I'm slow but steady

So I'm a year behind in both scrapbooking and movie watching.
We just rented Twilight and watched it for the first time tonight. And I admit that I did not have high expectations for it. I rented it because my 10 year old wants to watch it. But i underestimated - I thought they did a really great job with the writing. I love the humor they put into the movie. thumbs up. (not for dd though - i think she would not sleep for a month) but i liked it. i see why all the girls are in love with Edward. My niece can play the whole theme song on the piano. throb.

And I'm a year late on scrapbooking Christmas too.
I am doing some of the challenges at Websters Pages 12 Days of Christmas crop, and i just scrapped the page below. I love the shot, its from last year of course. Did you see Dad has bows in his hair? It was a rare moment of him really getting to enjoy the little ones.



I picked up the snowflake garland at the little antique mall where we sell scrapbook pages and altered things. they just spoke to me and i'm so glad i listened. you may see them on every post for a month.

framed vintage goodness

I just made this over the last two days - the photo acutally took wayyy longer than the actual glass frame. This is a very close reproduction of the inspiration piece done by Iris Babao at Websters Pages. I had limited supplies, and i loved the Christms look, so i just went with her instructions and enjoyed the process. thanks for taking a look!

Being Intentional about Christmas

I just finished up the craft classes I was leading at my house. And what a great feeling to have several hand-made gifts finished, on the shelf, ready to be given at my whim.

Are you intentional about how you do Christmas? Each year I have such grand ideas of how we will celebrate, and each year, the busy-ness of the season somehow gets the better of me. By the time school is out for the holiday, I am ready to crash.

So I just signed up for Jessica Sprague's Holidays In Hand class, and the first thing she wants us to do is identify our values and goals for Christmas. Oh, like I don't have enough stress making a simple shopping list! Seriously though, I do have values I would like to emphasize over Christmas with the kids, and so taking some time to jot down those values has got to do some good.

Her thought starters include
•peace
•family
•tradition
•togetherness
•friends
•warmth
•welcome
•magic
•glow
•spirit
•rest
•laughter
•friendship
•food
•sweets

and many more... I'm going to think about these and be back. Join me - what are the things you want to be doing more of this Christmas. Or less of...

Fun Ones

Here are a couple more pages I've done lately. The first I did because i have been hanging on to this picture since summer and i really wanted to get it scrapped and move on. I thought the new Basic Grey Nook and Pantry papers were perfect for a kitchen themed page.



This second page was done using up my Scenic Route papers. I've got some old lines still laying around and thought they were perfect for the photos of #3 up in the apple tree. She used to say this poem from preschool and its one i didn't want to forget.

way up high in the apple tree, three little apples smiled at me
I shook that tree as hard as I could
down came the apples... mmm they were good

thanks for stopping in. :-)

My Blessings

These days we are trying to focus more on what we need and less on what we want. And if you have a goofy sense of humor, its far easier to get along with less "stuff".
Here are my girls, on our fall photo shoot... we had some pretty funny moments. The oldest of course, quickly loosing her patience with the younger more goofy girls.

Tile Coasters

As I promised, I'll be posting some of the fun projects we've been making here at my craft classes. Most of these are easy and if you've got the supplies you really can't go wrong.

Here are the marble tile coasters we did a couple weeks ago. We used Ranger alcohol inks and just played around, making cool abstract designs. I am hoping to actually stamp some of these puppies and color them in, but these are great fun too.

(click on the image for a closer view)



Give them a try! Just remember you should either heat-set them or probably you could spray seal them, for longer wear.

Old Town tour

I just got back from a trip to Chicago with some of my BFF's - we did a Food Planet Tour, and had such a great time trecking through The Gold Coast, Old Town and a little view of Lincoln Park.

Here are some fun shots i've thrown together tonight, reminiscing...

This is Old Town Oil. I tried some Blood Orange oil combined with Lemon vinegar, some Jalapeno White Pepper vinegar and others, but I ended up bringing home Tangerine balsamic vinegar. Its like a flavor bomb goes off in your mouth. yum. can't wait to make some salad now, add some pomegranite and walnuts... hungry? come on over!



The Spice House - wow i wish i could have bottled the smell in here. Just full of aroma, and taster bottles, sprinkle some in your hand and sample. just wonderful.




One of the fun things I picked up here was some Saigon Cassia Cinnamon. You know those red cinnamon candies that make your tongue tingle? now i've got it in a shaker. I am such a happy girl. :-)




I have some class projects to show off - i hope to post some photos of our beautiful creations in the next day or so. Can't wait to show you!

Fall Bliss

You might recall I had been playing around with some editing techniques.
Here's the end result. this was done for a color challenge. I always love 7Gypsies papers - and I had fun adding some random things that looked fallish to me.



I used 7Gypsies Market paper, a 7G's tag, Scenic Route Laurel letters, a quote from October Afternoon Weather Vane stickers, some metal leaves I've had forever, and some prima flowers, with leaves cut from my stash.
thanks for looking!