December Daily ~ days 15-17

Before we ring in the new year I thought I'd share a couple more December Daily pics. Still working on that last week...

Day 15 ~ I made this envelope with one of my Kreate-a-lopes (bought on QVC years back). They're neat for making your own envelopes out of whatever paper you want (they work much better with thinner paper rather than the thick cardstock I used). That day I had a cookie swap at my house. So I put a picture of the cookies I made on the front along with some journaling in photoshop (font is CK Block).

Inside the envelope I put all the recipes (including my own). 

Something to note ~ I found that keeping recipes in these December Daily albums prove very valuable. This year I wanted to make one of my fave cookie recipes and couldn't find it. Guess where I found a copy of it? In my DD from last year!

Day 16 ~ Polar Express day at my son's school. I took the little ticket they handed out at school, scanned it & made it smaller in photoshop, then added it to the page. 

I made this page a flip-open page so I could add the ticket, photo & journaling. 

On the backside a photo of my daughter getting one of her many xrays to make sure her lungs continue to improve. That was certainly an important part of this month so I wanted to make sure to include it.

Day 17 ~ School parties. I used an Ali Edwards template, added journaling around the outside & a Making Memories felt embellishment.

I have more for Day 17 but I haven't finished that yet. 

I also added a little December Daily '09 icon on the right ----->>>>
so if you want to see all my posts from my DD this year click on that.


Oh, and check out the yummy fabric I got the other day...

Can fabric be yummy?? I think so ;) I found it at local store in town. Most are Amy Butler and the 3 on top are Michael Miller which remind me a lot of Heather Bailey stuff. I can't wait to play with them!! My first project is going to be a a couple camera straps for my new camera :)

I hope you all have a wonderful and safe New Year's Eve!! We'll be staying home as usual. Last year was the first year the kids both stayed up til midnight so I'm sure tonight will be the same! 

December Daily ~ days 6-14

I'm still working on finishing my December Daily...I'm determined to have it finished before Jan 1st. Because if it's not done by then, it'll never get done. Not with my daughter's birthday fast approaching. It's amazing how much you can get done with a massive head cold that keeps you from sleeping. Either that or the medicine I took had me wired. 

Anyhoo, I managed to finish up through part of day 17. Woo hoo!! I can see the finish line...it's in my sights!! Don't get me wrong, I'm not getting it done "just to get it done". That defeats the whole point of scrapbooking. But this project is something that's important to me. I love looking at the previous year and seeing how we celebrated the holidays...and how we manage to keep adding doctor visits to the mix. Remember my son broke his leg last year and was in a full leg cast through Xmas...

So here goes...starting with Day 6.

Just a simple photo collage. "Notes" tag is from Elle's Studio.The backside is another tag from Elle's and a cute little rhinestone Xmas tree. Day 7 is a kraft envelope that I stamped with snowflakes. The number 7 is from Shabby Chic Crafts.

Inside the envelope I just put some of my favorite Xmas movies. I think it'll be funny to see if any of those change in the next 20yrs. I'm guessing not... Day 8 is the first batch of Xmas cookies. No explanation necessary... :)

Day 9 I added an Ali Edwards overlay with some journaling right on my front door. 

Journaling reads: Finding packages at our front door during the month of December is a common occurance at our house. the kids love to check out who it's from and put the presents under the tree. Then Olivia tries to figure out just what is inside. She loves a surprise but the suspense gets to her!

The opposite side ~ a simple picture of the wreath on our door along with a Making Memories embellishment. 

Days 10 & 11 ~ I simply used a 4x6 photo on a Making Memories snowflake transparency and another AE overlay. We didn't really do anything those days worth documenting so I use these days to show pics of our holiday decor.

Day 12 ~ the day after we got Bugsy :) This pg is using one of the album's page protectors. The front is simple, Scenic Route & Basic Grey paper & border sticker, number is from Elle's. 

On the backside a simple digital layout. Day 13 is a corrugated cardboard die-cut page. Scallop tag is from Shabby Chic Crafts. Photo has an Ali Edwards overlay and I stitched the photo to help keep it on the page and for an accent.

The backside is a simple Hambly rub-on with an Elle's Studio tag. I like that you can see the stitching from the opposite side. Day 14 is another page protector. I created the photo & journaling in Photoshop, then printed it and added the strip of patterned paper & ribbon. 

The backside is the weather for that day along with an October Afternoon card & number stickers. I liked the idea to use the weather report from Ali Edwards. I thought it was fitting to put it in mine since we had a ton of rain that week.

Are you (or did you) create a December Daily?? If so, I'd love to see it. My friend Tami did her digitally, you can check it out on her blog. And if you're behind, don't worry about it. Remember, scrapbooking isn't meant to be stressful! It doesn't matter if you don't get it done "on time". What matters are the memories you are preserving!!

cute ornament idea

I know a lot of people are "done" with the holidays but I'm not. So you'll have to put up with a little more holiday ideas...at least til we get into the new year anyway! 

My daughter's class did these ornaments at their class party and I think it's such a cute idea. I didn't come up with it, of course, but I wanted to share it. You take a regular ball ornament (I think the blue ones look the best) and cover your child's hand with white acrylic paint. The palm of their hand should be placed on the bottom part of the ornament so their fingers come up the sides forming the "snowmen". Once it's dried you (or your child) can draw the faces & hats on the snowmen. Wouldn't it be cute to do this every year and see how the snowmen grow?!!

Here's the poem that goes along with it. I made these cards for the kids to take home with their ornaments. (The blurred out part is where I put the school, class & teacher's name).

the day after....

We're still buried in wrapping paper & toys

There have been many games played...

and lots of excited faces...

And I don't want to clean any of it up cause that will mean that Christmas is "officially" over. And I'm not ready....

 

Merry Christmas Eve!!

The meatballs & ham are in the crock pots (different ones of course!), the stockings are hung, presents are wrapped and the kids' Christmas pjs are almost finished. I've been doing my best to get things done before the big day. And in between making sure to do fun things with the kiddos and trying to fight this head cold or whatever it is that has been making me feel like crap since Monday.


I'm a bit behind on my December Daily but that's ok. I'll get that finished in the next week and I'll share pics. I'll also share pics of our countdown chalkboard above.


Tonight we'll go to the children's liturgy at church and the kids will dramatize the story of the birth of Jesus. We have a shepherd and an angel in the family this year :) The kids look forward to it. It's a nice way to start Christmas.I wish you all a wonderful & blessed Christmas!

blizzard bites ~ batch #2

I just got done wrapping up a second batch of blizzard bites. Actually, this is technically my 3rd batch since the last one was a double batch. Anyway, I tried my best to keep from eating them all myself! They're yummy :) This time I made up some bags for my Sunday school kids and also my kids' Sunday School teachers. 

For the kids, I used some little gift boxes I had leftover from last year. I got these at Hobby Lobby and I just love how cute they are! I added a Christmas tag on the front (totally copied my friend Tami on this one, you can check out hers here!)

I printed the tags on white cardstock, used my mega circle & giga scallop circle punches, then added some ribbon.

For the Sunday School teachers I used windowed coffee bags and stamped snowflakes with red Stazon. I added one of my Christmas tags along with a cute clothespin to hold it on.

My friend Tami also used these coffee bags to package up some blizzard bites in a cute way. You can check it out here.


I think this about wraps up my gifts for the season. Now I can spend the next few days before Christmas hanging out with my kids, making gingerbread houses, watching Christmas movies and having fun :)

does anyone else's kitchen table look like this??

I mean seriously, I can't be the only one who's table is covered in 10 different Christmas projects!! This is what happens when you get behind on finishing teacher gifts, class gifts, class party stuff, etc. That's ok, it'll be cleaned up tomorrow. And then I can mess it right up again with some other project! hehe

So here's what I've been working on. First off, teacher gifts. I wanted to come up with something different and I found some blogs/websites about making rag quilt purses. And I thought that would make a cute gift filled with some Christmas goodies. I've said this before ~ you don't have to spend a ton of money to give a great gift that's from the heart. I found some Debbie Mumm fabric on sale at Joann's a few weeks back. And this is what I came up with...

I'm really happy with how they turned out. I used a scallop square Sizzix die to cut all the square pieces. And when you wash the purse it really gets a "raggish" look to it. I know, not a word... Anyhoo, when you make these you're supposed to use some scissors and snip those little ends that are sticking out. But I like the way you can see the scallop edge so I didn't cut them. Personal preference.


I made 4 of these purses and each one is just a little bit different. 

I have some more cute fabric that I found so I'll be sharing more rag quilt purses in future posts (and some instructions if anyone wants them).

Inside I put some Christmas goodies, some little candles I decorated, *big* candy bar (toffee & chocolate mmmmm...), holiday socks, towel, & post-its.

I added a cute little Christmas tag on the front and the kids wrote a note on the inside :)

For the kids in the class I made blizzard bites. They're super yummy :) (I'll give the recipe at the end of this post). I used little glassine bags, created tags in Photoshop using Christmas Memories Circles and attached them with these cute little mini clothespins I found at Hobby Lobby. It's hard to tell in the photos but they're actually about 2/3 the size of normal clothepins. Need to get more of those :)

And that's it! Happy gift giving everyone :)

Blizzard Bites

6 cups Chex + 2 cups Cheerios or 8 cups cereal of your choice

2 cups nuts 

(I use peanuts, you could also use pecans or your favorite nut)

2 cups pretzel twists

1 lb bag plain M&Ms (the holiday ones!)

3 12-ounce bags white chocolate chips 

(I use Candiquick, I doubled the recipe and used 3 16-ounce packages)

Combine everything except for chocolate. Melt the chocolate (either in the microwave or double-boiler). When melted, pour over cereal mixture and gently fold into cereal until evenly coated. Spread mixture onto wax paper and let dry/harden. Break any large clumps into smaller pieces & store in airtight container.