Here are a few fun pages I just did - my favorite is the one of dd dressed up like someone else. lol.



Here are the girls at the store during closed hours. i think the sterile gloves are a nice touch, they're such a big help for their dad. lol.


My grandmother - she brings us her bingo winnings whenever we have a family dinner together. It's really a big deal for her, and we think its a hoot. We get stuff like dishwashing liquid, tissues, soap, sometimes ceramic figurines too!


the fall festival for our school was held at a local pumpkin farm this year. that was very fun and a nice break from the usual PTO games and activities in the gym. I had to try out my new green Glimmer mist by spraying it over some silk leaves. fun!

Christmas Gifts

Remember back before Thanksgiving and I aluded to some classes held at my house, where we made some Christmas gifts? Can you believe I finally am going to post some pictures! ah! I'm getting caught up.

This mug is bagged and ready for giving, but you can see the general idea. I used StazOn to stamp the image, then painted with ceramic paint. You want to be sure and use clear over the stazon because it will eventually wash off. Porcelain 150 by Pebeo is a good product to use for ceramic.



And here is a Santa Cookie Kit, when i gave them they also had some homemade cookies and almond bark inside. I covered the rolling pin with some patterned paper and then shellacked to seal it. Stamped the side of the tin with White StazOn. They came out pretty cute after I got the hang of stamping the white on the curved edge. The stamps were from a really cute mini set from American Crafts.



Thanks for taking a look! I'll try to come back with something more. I still have coasters to show you. So easy, and the kids were driving me crazy wanting to do them all the time.

Wow. I hope you all are doing a better job of enjoying the hoiday than I am. We have been party central here for the last two weeks and I just haven't had time to talk to you all.

Did I mention we had a couple parties? DeAnne turned 6. We did a Hello Kitty party. I'll have to edit photos before posting them here. It was very cute and really fun. Such nice little girls.

And Steve turned 50. And we got him good! We did a surprise "The Life of Steve" movie party. Including popcorn machine, red carpet, spot light (that said Happy 50th) and Oscar awards for movie trivia buffs.

I didn't have my camera at the party so I will get some pictures from my friends' cameras soon. But for your viewing pleasure - here are the photos that were displayed all over the house, with stories provided by Steve's family and college friends. My favorite classic comment, from 9 yr old Paige... "Why isn't Mr. Price wearing his wig in this picture?" check out the slide show below and you'll laugh along with the rest of us.

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!