Merry Christmas Everyone!

Merry Christmas everyone. This morning was a very busy morning. It’s just after 11:00 and we’ve already unwrapped presents, had Christmas diner, went visiting and opened more presents and came back home. I’m now just having a coffee and posting before I get ready for work. This year we were a little rushed since I have to work at 12:30 but we did pretty well. We got up around 6:00. We didn’t know how long it would take to unwrap everything this year so we had to wake up Lavinia. She was so tired, poor thing. We unwrapped presents then we took Lavinia up to Nanny Everett’s and unwrapped more presents there. They even had the dinner cooked early so that I had a chance to eat it. Now I’m really stuffed. I have to start getting my lunch ready and don’t even want to think about food right now. Among other presents, Mom and Dad gave her a winter hat and Tanya, Tracey, Mitchell, Matthew, and Julia gave her a pair of crocs. That is what she wore along with her pj's while she was opening her presents. There's a picture before unwrapping and a picture after. Now that I compare, they look really similar. I guess that I should have taken a picture while the wrapping is still on the floor. I'd better get going. I hope everyone has a great Christmas.

It’s been a while since I last posted. I have been creating some new projects for Christmas gifts so I can’t show them until after Christmas. I’m still quite busy working as well. Sunday they wanted us to work extra hours. I chose to tack a few hours on to the end of my shift instead of having to come in on a day off. Saturday night Lavinia was just not going to bed and she finally came into my bed and slept with me. I know, I know she needs to sleep in her own bed, but after midnight, I needed to get to sleep. She was still sleeping when I left for work and she was asleep when I got home. Depressing.

Monday night we went driving around town to look at the Christmas lights as we do every year. Since I work mostly nights, it was the last night we had to go until after Christmas. Lavinia didn’t last 15 minutes before she was asleep. Jason and I kept driving and scooping out the best-decorated places in case we got a chance to do it again during the Christmas holidays.

Last week we went in to town to pick up a few things and Lavinia got her picture taken with Santa. Last year she was too scared and she didn’t get a picture or even tell him what she wanted. This year she wasn’t scared. So we dared to take the picture. If we had a better strategy, she would not have been covered in chocolate milk by the time we got to the mall. We just kept shedding layers and were happy to find the shirt under her sweater was not dirty. She got up on the bench and was staring at him and wanted to say what she wanted first, but they were taking the picture first. It was a little overwhelming for her because everyone telling her to smile. By the time the picture was taken she was ready to leave. Then Santa asked what she wanted, she’d already had enough and wanted out of there. It would have been a better picture if they had just taken it of her looking at him, but at least she isn’t crying this year. We had a pretty good day in town. We ate at Zellers, which although it is not a five star restaurant, it was the first sit down meal we had in a long time and we really enjoyed it.

Now I’m just wrapping Christmas presents before and after work and trying to get ready for the holiday before it passes me by. I hope next year, I’ll be a lot more prepared.

This is a page I did last year for the calendar swap. It’s one of my very first stamping projects and I really enjoyed it. At the time I had nothing to color the picture with so left it alone. It’s a great stamp but it looks so bare. If I had the time before the end of the month, I’d color it in now. I wonder if the other ladies in the swap have colored theirs.

I’ve been very busy working and although we put the tree up last week, I still have a lot to do to get ready for Christmas. I was able to work on a few presents that I will show after Christmas. I still have a few more to make and some more shopping to do. I’m kind of waiting to see what my holiday schedule will be before I think of what groceries we need. At this point, I’m not sure if people are coming over Christmas Eve or if I’ll be working. I’m also not sure if I’m cooking on Christmas Day or if I’ll be at work. It will be easier to get more organized once I know my schedule. Although I have many Christmas cards made, I still did not get any cards done up yet. I really better get at it.

A few days ago Lavinia’s ecxema broke out. She was really itchy and had a hard time sleeping so she was so tired during the day too. Although she still has her active times, she was on the couch more often too. We’ve been really lucky this year because we had a really long stretch we didn’t have to worry about it. I think it let my guard down a bit because I should have been looking for it when the weather changed. I know by now that weather changes trigger her ecxema.

She was at her Nanny’s that last couple of days and although she is usually quite tired when she comes home, I was a little scared that she would wake up when I got home. A couple of weeks ago when I came home from work at 1am, I saw a little head poking out of the window and it would disappear once I got out of the car. She did go to bed great for Jason but would wake up when I got home. I went in her bedroom and we sang a few Christmas songs and she quickly went back to sleep, very amazing for her. Now that I started working those shifts again, I was wondering if she would wake up. So far, so good. She was so still I thought I would try out the night vision lens on the camera. There are so many features to this camera that I really never tried. I really just need to play with it a bit. I now have proof that she sleeps at night.

Decorating the tree

Usually we decorate either the last week of November or first week of December on the first day we have off together. This year I've been preoccupied with work and the November craft fairs, that I was rather unprepared this year. I did have today and yesterday off this week so we decorated a little. Yesterday Lavinia got up early. She usually sleeps in and I really enjoy getting at least one cup of coffee in before she appears. She has a lot of energy and I can barely keep up.

While I was getting dressed she got on the treadmill. Since she was doing well on it, I just let her go at it hoping it would tire her out a little bit. She was really exited because she knew we were going to do the tree.

Last year she had no interest in the tree and the year before she was too young. This year she had lots of fun. Since we have a fake tree I usually put it together and shape the branches and Jason does the lights and the garland. She helped me for a little bit but was bored with it pretty fast.

She then went to “help” with the lights until she discovered the garland. She played with that garland by twirling in round and round on the floor for so long that we had a time getting it untangled. She was very good putting the ornaments on the tree. We had a great time decorating and aside from driving us crazy with the sound of the beaded garland sliding on the floor we were very impressed with her behavior. And we only broke 1 ornament.

3D Thursday

This is a great holiday idea. I made these holiday Santa, Reindeer, and Snowman soups using a pattern from the Dirty Dozen Gallery on splitcoaststampers.com. It contains a package of hot chocolate some marshmellows and a candy cane and a poem tying it all together. This is a great project for any holiday. I made a pumpkin for Lavinia at Hallowe'en and filled it with candy corn. The designer of these all season treat containers is Leigh O’Brien. Her gallery on the website is amazing and you can see her projects as well on her blog Sunflower Studio. Her all season treat bags are much more ornate than mine. I strive for the ability to create great cards and projects like her. Meanwhile, I will be making more of these treat containers to fill little treats for the kids at Christmas.

Wednesday’s Words

“Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.” - Norman Vincent Peale

I never associated Christmas with peaceful, soft, or beautiful growing up. It was exhausting, stressful, and busy; but still exiting and enjoyable. We put up the tree, bought and wrapped presents, put up the lights, decorated, unwrapped presents, went visiting all in the same week. Christmas day we were all together and Boxing Day I saw my cousins, uncles and aunts at a get together at my grandparents. Although I loved Christmas Day and seeing everyone on Boxing Day the stress of getting everything ready for Christmas had everyone exhausted before it even began. Because of this I looked forward to Christmas but at the same time dreaded it. Once I was married, we decorated the first day we both had off in December. That was the first Christmas I really enjoyed. We had our presents done in early December and listening to Christmas music while wrapping presents really helped to bring on the Christmas mood. I even baked for Christmas that year. We had fun at Mom and Dad’s on Christmas Day and enjoyed Boxing Day as well. Ever since, we were prepared early and had a peaceful and enjoyable holiday season … until this year. We still hope to have a peaceful and enjoyable holiday season, but we are a little behind in the holiday preparations. We are decorating next week either on Thursday or Friday. It’s still the first week of December so we still have time to be ready so we can relax during the holidays.

Tool Time Tuesday

This is my double circle punch by Creative Memories. It makes 1¼-inch and 1½-inch circles. I love that it is two punches in one. I mainly use it for scrapbooking but did need it for Lavinia’s birthday card last year. I got the idea for the ladybug from splitcoaststampers but can’t find who came up with the idea in the first place. I used the sketch from the catalogue last year on page 101 using Say Something Mice. I thought it was a great sketch to use a lot of scraps. The wings spread to reveal the word bliss stamped underneath. I really liked it so I made a few more. They are great to use together for a framed affect like I did in Lavinia’s park page or combined with different shaped circles in Lavinia’s Bubbles page. In the Big Sister heritage page I used the punches for framing but also used it to make a paper tag. Of coarse any 1¼ and 1½ circle punch will do but I find it so handy to have both tools in one. Usually when I use one I use the other too and it illuminates so much searching through my messy pile of goodies.

Monochromatic Monday

Here is a quick card with a monochromatic color scheme. I love using patterned paper with monochromatic cards because it is the simplest way to add interest. This card is 3.5 x 6 so that it fits in a regular envelope. It is the perfect size for a money holder card.

Lately the scrapbook challenges have started taking a turn to the “about me” type of pages. I started scrapbooking shortly after I was married so I never did a page about me before. The main reason was because most of the pictures taken were of my daughter. There were a few pages that included me but I was definitely not the focus of the page. The first about me challenge that I tried was to scrap your personal mantra. It really appealed to me because I was doing a heritage album at the time and often wished I had known stories and feelings of my ancesters instead of only dates and names. I’m not one to think my scrapbooks will be heirlooms passed down to future generations, however if my child or future children were curious these pages are better than nothing. Plus I have a lot of fun doing them.

This was my submission for my mantra page. Journaling reads: When I first heard the soundtrack to the musical RENT, I was overwhelmed by the powerful message of living in the present. Actual living. No holding back or hiding. At that point in my life I would often wallow in regrets & was worried about the future. I no longer worry about the future so much. Instead I am such a procrastinator not only in everyday tasks, but also in achieving personal goals. My mantra reminds me to stop using tomorrow as an excuse & work toward reaching my goals now.

No Day but Today

There's only us; there's only this,
Forget regret or life is yours to miss,
No other road; no other way,
No day but today.

There's only us, only tonight,
We must let go to know what's right,
No other course; no other way,
No day but today

I can't control my destiny,
I trust my soul; my only goal is just to be,

There's only now, there's only here,
Give in to love or live in fear
No other path; no other way,
No day but today,
No day but today,
No day but today,
No day but today,
No day but today,
No day but today.

- Jonathan Larson (RENT)

Stamp Set Saturday

This is a retired SU stamp set called Heavenly Heralds. I chose this set to use for my Christmas cards this year. The first card had the fold in the middle. I used the French Script background, masked the circle and stamped the first word from the sentement inside. I used the Poppin' Pastels technique for the main image and used the sketch from Splitcoaststampers sketch challenge 67.
The second card was using the sketch from last year's idea book. It was using a different stampset but I like how it worked with this one too. This was a really quick and easy card.

The third card was done using the bleaching technique. I have tried before to stamp with bleach but, especially with a stamp as detailed as this, it never turned out right. There were spots that were really bold and others did not change color at all. I gave up on bleaching until we did this kind of bleaching technique at our stamp club meeting. In this card I embossed the image in gold then applied bleach with a Q-tip filling in the image.
The last card I did with a blue marker and pencil crayons. I highlighted the dress with the blue marker then used the blender pen to color it in. The rest of the image, I used pencil crayons. I hope to get the watercolor wonder crayons soon. Right now I am limited in coloring mediums. I know the blender pens and classic ink work but I only have one family in classic right now. I still use what I have so I can create and practice for better mediums in the future.
This is only one of the angels in the set. The other angel in the set is picking flowers and goes with the quote, “The love of beautiful things is heavenly homesickness.” I do like the quote but for what kind of card would you use it? I would use it in a card to someone who gardens or scrapbooks. (We all know every scrapbooker has their stash of pretty things.) In that case, I wouldn’t use the angel. Other than someone who collects angels, I really have no ideas. Even so, I do love the set because of the Christmas angel and quote and have often used the other two stamps alone.

Fakey Friday

One of my favorite faux techniques is faux metal tags. I love hardware and the look of metal on my scrapbook pages and cards. Basically you make a faux metal tag out of cardstock and metallic embossing powder. I emboss the whole piece of paper and do three coats of EP. While it is still hot stamp on it with a dry rubber stamp. I stamped the tag with small lettering so I only did two coats of EP. It’s a really fun and easy technique. If you’ve never tried it there is a tutorial on Splitcoaststampers.com. I also made this card for this week’s splitcoaststampers’ card sketch challenge (SC100).

Stamps: flip flops, Cute converse, Fun Filled (spiral and swirls backgrounds)

Paper: generic cardstock

Ink: black Staze on, whisper White, Versamark

Accessories: gold EP, White fiber

Techniques: faux metal tags