December Daily Update

Playing a bit of catch up as it seems the holiday season always goes.  My youngest son, Ethan,made up his Santa list. The little pic at the bottom isn't actually a self portrait with Santa but with Harry Potter. Yes, Harry is still a prominent fixture in our house again this year-especially after viewing Part 1 of #7 last Fri. The other portion of my day 5 was a small collection of pictures of our local Christmas parade, of which my eldest, Ian played in the band. (Drums).

Here is a retake of my Day 6 as I finished the pages at night and the lighting conditions were less than optimum.

 Still love that I was able to incorporate the package of my newest favorite Christmas tradition: Dove Peppermint bark Promises!!

The paper on the left side was a free download off of eighteentwentyfive's blog. I love

it wanted to be sure it ended up in my album. Still need to complete the rest of Day 9's layout. Getting there.

Day 10 (left side) is a photographed image of an art project that Ethan made last week. Handprint Christmas tree. I love it and it is already hanging up in our house. Will definitely be cherishing that little piece for years to come.

More to follow! Thanks for looking.

December Daily Day 8

So, this is half of my Day 8. Still need to add journaling and a few pics (These will go on back size of enlarged photo, I think.

I stitched to size a page protector to house my KI lace paper and then stickled the #8. Decided to use this for Day 8 as I wanted a number that "mirrored nicely on the back side and obviously. 8 does the trick!

The chipboard was painted and then inked with Cats Eye. Added AC thicker snowflake and some cute lace trim to left side (Click on pic to enlarge this) and called it done.

My dear friend, Lexi, had this little gal show up on her doorstep the other day. I took back to our house yesterday in the attempt to help her find a home! I've shown her to my neighbor's and my cousin (Both who may want a dog in the future, but may not be ready yet). We can't keep her as we all ready have two big dogs and one medium, plus a cat. I pray she finds a home for the Holidays!

Dec Daily #7

So today I came across this picture from my DH's past, and one thing I wanted to put into my album this year were some stories from the past to compare to some stories from today to.
I actually don't have a pic of my boys on Santa's lap crying.
Why is it you ask?
Because this momma used to work in a retail setting and the last place I wanted to be during the holidays was at the mall, with swarms of other stressed out parents and little kiddos who THINK they want to sit on Santa's lap, until the hour or so later they actually get to climb up on his lap and they chicken out! Now, that's not to say we don't get our picture taken with Santa, it's just that my boys are definitely old enough now to decide if and when they want to! No drama. No stress.

I had saved my Starbucks bag for this DD album, but found it was too large for the album. So, I scanned it and fit it down to size and printed onto white cardstock. Added a sweet ribbon below (mostly to cover up uneven border during printing-but also adding to the theme of "Stories are GIFTS." A few little pearl blings and it's good to go.

 I thinkI am going to journal a bit more about the stories I want to tell this holiday season and slip it between the back of the photo and in front of the next page. TFL!

Today's Promise

Brought to you by : Dove.

My newest Christmas tradition. Grabbing a box (or two!) of these:

 and opening up one each day to reveal a little "Promise" message. Like one's own little advent calendar/fortune cookie all wrapped up into one small decadent indulgence! I'm sooo loving this new little tradition. Each daily dose of inspiration and reflection. Please Dove, don't stop making these little morsels of chocolate + peppermint goodness!


So, I have saved the daily "Promise Messages" and placed them in this little envelope. I will save the remaining wrappers for another repurposing later in my DD.

This clearly needed to become a part of this year's December Daily, so I took it upon myself to once again "repurpose" packaging. (I think it was too pretty not to!) Please note white balance and lighting are obviously off on these pics but since it's nighttime-it's the best I could do with what light I did have.

Ok, so I brought another lamp over to my scrapping station and the light is a little better now.

Joy. Dove. Love.


Looking forward to tomorrow's "Promise Message. Maybe if I just hold off til 12:01AM, I can have it tomorrow! ;-)

Handmade Ornaments

Made these are few days ago and can't wait to put them up on our tree! Lots of October Afternoon papers mixed with a few others as well as American Crafts, Making Memories embellishments, buttons, vintage music paper, Baker's twine, ribbon and miscellaneous other embellishments. Fun to make and I repurposed ribbon containers for the base of the ornaments. (I don't like wasting anything). TFL.

December Daily 2010

Update on my December Daily. I haven't had the opportunity (yet) to put my journaling in (although I have taken notes) but here are a few before and afters:

 

So, I'm thinking I'll place a few ticket stubs or receipts in the Starbucks holder as the month goes on-use it as a kind of pocket.

 

My growing collection of handmade ornaments for the tree this year.

Can't wait to get the journaling down for Day 2. My youngest son's bd and my oldest son's first "true" rock concert and it was his favorite band (Skillet + Toby Mac + Sean Lock)with VIP backstage passes! Woot!

Special Day

...in lots of special ways.

First off, someone special has a special day to day. Here's a clue as to whom it is:

Birthday Boy #9 awoke slightly before 7am and opened up a few gifts pictured below.

 After a breakfast at Village Inn, where he indulged in "The Villain" breakfast (which consisted of a huge pancake with blueberries for eyes and scrambled eggs for the hair and bacon strips for the mouth)
AND then...he indulged in a free Birthday Boy Slice of Chocolate Lover's Delight pie! Needless to say, he hasn't been hungry for lunch yet and it's 4:15!
After breakfast, we went to his piano lesson at Mrs. D's, then it was off to ToysRUs where it was announced that "Ethan is here with us today celebrating his 9th birthday. If you see him wearing a birthday crown and holding a birthday balloon please tell him Happy Birthday!"
There was much parading been done through the aisles. There were many well wishes. Many smiles. And thank yous. After we perused the Lego aisle (and a few others) and picked up the BOGO 50% off kits, we checked out and made it out to the vehicle before I checked the receipt and realized I didn't receive the 50% off the second kit. Turns out, the special wasn't good for The Star Wars sets OR the Harry Potter sets --of which I had purchased one of each. So, we went back in and got a refund on the two kits. I'm sorry, but this Momma does not "do retail." Ethan was very good about it, so we set off to Hobby Lobby and then Target.
At Target, we purchased The King's Castle for $69.99. Seriously good deal! Retails for $99 at Target and $129+ online.
(He's currently constructing by my side as I type this and is enjoying the moving mechanism of the drawbridge and the security gate dropping down (I'm sure there is a better word for this part of the castle but I'm currently at a loss for the correct medieval term).
After Target it was a quick stop to Michael's and then it was decided (since neither of us was hungry) to opt out of Steak n Shake lunch and to head for the bank and then home.
Daddy/Mick was there when we arrived and stumbled in with our packages of holiday organization bins, gift purchases and supplies. Ethan immediately, tore into his next gift, which Daddy happily helped remove from the packaging and began playing with.
This was the next gift:

Actually it was a larger set, but this picture will do.

 I think Mick and I both are thinking to ourselves that these beanz are like the Now Generations idea of our "Vintage" Weeble Wobbles. We are holding out our judgment until we see how much play comes from the collection of these little beanz. One thing is for sure, Hugsley has taken after them as his latest and greatest cat toys-he was especially fond of the "Ultra Rare" Chili Beanz!! Definitely going to have to  put them up when not actively being played with!

Lots more pictures will follow but I just realized my DH has taken my camera to the Skillet/Toby Mac concert that he's taking Ian and his friend to tonight. They got VIP passes so are totally stoked (and have been for weeks) to attend this event. Special day. Special night.

One other special person who's birthday fell on this day, my beloved tennis partner and friend, Ben Birdsong, who passed away (on the very courts we played) on Tuesday, July 20 of this year. He is missed deeply but remembered fondly!