My October and how I'm keeping track of Christmas.

First things first.  October. 

I got my thoughts and photos down on paper.  I used some fun bits from the Metropolitan kit from Studio Calico, some new star veneer shapes (LOVE these), and some MME from my stash for the base.  I'm really liking the change from kraft to patterned cardstock as the base, with kraft on top.  I'll probably do it next month too!

Our family has nothing extra planned in December (although we are hoping for a lot of snow this year so we'll actually get to play in it!), so I am ahead of the game for my November layout.  I promise.  Boy, this challenge is sometimes super tough to fit in.

I've already posted my layout on the SCT blog along with my winner (you need to check that out, Lisa Spiegel).  I'm going to announce the calendar winners tomorrow with my 12/1 post.  Good grief.  December.

Moving on.

For the past few years I've greatly admired Ali's December Daily album, and each year I give it a go, but it never pans out.  I am bound and determined to do it this year, and found a concept that finally works for me.

I'm calling it "Until Christmas".  I bought these tags from Elle's Studio, but didn't intend to go until 12/31.  I just loved that each were different and they had a vintage feel.  I also really liked the color palette.

The kids and I shopped for Christmas on Black Friday, and then Saturday night we had a Starlight holiday parade, so I really wanted to start my album before December 1.  When I saw that Friday was the 26th, I knew it was meant to be.  When all is said and done, I'll only have a lonely 31 tag from the package.  Maybe I can use it later on a New Year's layout!

Another thing that has always held me back is my journaling.  If I have to make time every day to use the computer and print something out, I'll eventually get behind, and then I won't finish the album.  This year I'm embracing my handwriting, and doing this album like a daily journal, with memorabilia and photos thrown in.

For my front and back cover I'm using an old Melissa Frances Bingo album.  The pages are super thick.  I've been saving this album for a long time.  At this point my plan is to use cardstock for the interior pages, but if the album needs it, I'll throw in another piece of chipboard. 

I didn't like the cover I originally made, so for now I'm sticking with naked.  I do plan to call the album "Until Christmas 2010" when I have a chance though.

I'm trying to utilize my blue, green, and red stash for a bulk of the album.  What else is a person supposed to do with their stash?!  I have no interest in having this album published.  It is all for me.

You can see I included random photos of what we are up to.  I also included a super cute note that Morgan and Payton made me.  I woke up Sunday morning to a picnic breakfast.  I love when they spoil me (and I'm not going to fret about this gold color with my blue green and red album either.  Not.  Going.  To.  Fret.  :)  ).

This album is more than a holiday album to me.  It's almost along the same lines as Ali's week in the life.  I'm just documenting it all.  I think it'll be fun to look back on.

In fact, last night my girls put up a small Christmas tree in their room, and at bedtime they told me that they had to sit in front of it, with their palms together, and say a little chant before bed to make their Christmas wishes.  It goes:

Star light
Star bright
We are here
To make a wish
We close our eyes
and then we start
to make a wish
with all our heart.

And then you move your prayer hands in a circular motion towards the tree and say:

Sparkle hearts.
Amen.

I mean seriously.  How cute is that!  And of course I wrote it down right away.  I kept saying it wrong, lol.  This is the fun stuff I want to remember.

I don't see this album interfering with my plans for my Project 12 layout either.  It's like a P12 layout, only more detailed.  It's also an album that will be put out with the decor every December. 

Let me know if you have any questions!  See you tomorrow!  Davinie

crafTuesday - Holiday book share, and a reindeer face

In the past I never bought Christmas books.  I've always felt they were a bit silly in our bookcases during the rest of the year, and it took away from their meaning.  We have a Barney Halloween book that my kids had me read all the time and it got old reading about halloween candy and costumes in July.

A couple of years ago my friend Nic shared a FUN idea involving Christmas books and I jumped on that wagon so hard I think I went to Goodwill the next day to forage through their stacks in order to get 24 books.

It's an advent of sort.  Wrap 24 different Christmas books and put them in a basket.  Each night, my girls take turns and one of them chooses a package, unwraps it, and we read a Christmas book every night.  It takes the edge off the urge to open gifts under the tree, and is a fun alternative to something candy related in a calendar (although we have one of those too).  I just loved the idea.

Some favorites that we've added to the stack are:

Merry Christmas, Splat (Splat the Cat) - Have you ever read the Splat books?  The artwork is fun, the message is heartworming, and they are funny books too. 

The Poky Little Puppy's First Christmas (Little Golden Book) - Who doesn't love the Poky Little Puppy?


How the Grinch Stole Christmas! - Of course. 

My aunt bought the girls The Night Before Christmas Pop-up when Morgan was a baby and that's a fun one to set aside for Christmas Eve, outside the gift book box, simply because of it's fragility. 

The Polar Express - Of course

Mooseltoe - A moose with a big mustache.  Of course there's pandemonium around the holidays. 


Russell's Christmas Magic - I'm a huge fan of the artwork in this one.  Russell has other books and they are all fun.

A Pirate's Night Before Christmas - this one is a TON of fun to read. 

Walt Disney's Mickey's Christmas Carol (Big Golden Book) - reading the Christmas Carol in some form is always a must because of the message it gives.


The last one I wanted to share was Fancy Nancy: Splendiferous Christmas.  We are huge Nancy fans at this house and have all her other books.


Doing this project every year has certainly changed the way I feel about holiday themed books.  I look for new books to update the stack all the time, with the intention of keeping the 24 best that are appropriate at the time (for example, we are done with touch and feel and those pop up style books).

After the holidays, the books are tucked away with the Christmas decorations, that way they are fresh again the following year.  So far, my girls have loved the tradition.

I didn't want to end this post without a fun holiday craft project to share.  This particular project was made with a an almost 2 year old Payton's foot and handprint. 

The first time I was inspired to make this I was watching TV and I saw a little reindeer on the fridge in the background during a commercial.  It goes to show you can find inspiration everywhere.

Simple trace each hand on a piece of brown cardstock.  Trim them out.
Trace a foot on a piece of light brown cardstock.
Put them together with a red circle and some google eyes, and voila:

I love my reindeer.  I bring him out each year for Christmas decor.  Something like this would be really use to do for Grandparents, and what a precious keepsake.  Kid feet certainly grow fast!

Have a great night!  Back in just a minute with my Project 12 for October and my December Daily, of sorts.

Metropolitan, Studio Calico's December kit

Hi there!  The site is live with reserve kits so if you missed your chance this morning, now is the time to head to Studio Calico.

This is what I came up with this month:

Polar Express was made entirely with Park Bench.  If you are interested in this add-on, get to SC fast as I know it was the first to sell out this morning.  As I mentioned on my last post, I'm in love with these kraft doilies.  I loved that I could turn them into snowflake like embellishments for this layout about our trip to the Polar Express last year.

I really like how this one turned out.  I have to say...  I wasn't a fan of any of the photos I took from this adventure, but it was something I really needed to document.  With that in mind, I reduced the size on my photos, made some of them black and white, made sure to get in all the people who were with us that day, and got them all on a layout.

Speaking of which....  we went to the Polar Express in Hood River.  The only thing I will say is this....  to each their own.  I have friends who loved it.  My kids thought it was a fine time.  But the weather was miserable, it was raining really hard, we ended up in the ghetto car, Santa needed a new suit, etc etc.  The video they share on the site looks lovely, but that's not the car we were on.  It might have been more fun if we'd had a table to set our hot chocolate on.  We just had benches.  So if you loved it?  Great.  But I'm saving my $300+ for something else this year, lol.  So if you plan to attend, my advice would be to map out the cars to know which one you want, if you have a choice.  That might make a difference.

Back to the layouts.  Next up:

I sprayed and splattered white mist and then used JBS Stick Candy ink with the stamp from Front Porch on my kraft cardstock, and then turned it into this layout about our Christmas Tree hunt last year:

I'm surprised with how much I loved these fun AC Bones alphas from the Mass Transit add-on.  I love how fun and funky they are, the perfect green (Christmas was misted with Applejack). 

And I played with the new week stamps from the main kit for this one about Morgan and homework:

The patterns I chose were a wee bit too busy for the stamps on this one, now that I look back.  I just really wanted to use that custom Sass paper with my photos, and I liked the print in relation to the subject, for the other. 

I also made a card this month:

This card came together in just a few minutes after I decided I wanted to use that border sticker on one patterned paper and have another print below it.  Easy peasy.

I shared my Toothless layout on my last blog post.  Right now I'm working with the KI Memories pocket papers and will have something to share from the tooth fairy soon.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!  Davinie

Metro Love - we are go for launch

It's 9am PST and that means it's time to put your fingers to the keyboard and head to Studio Calico for your kit and add-ons.  Good luck!

My last couple of posts have had sneaks but this morning, I wanted to share the layout I made last night with the November kit.  I was going to move on to other assignments, but I simply can't buy a kit and three add-ons, do 3 layouts and a card, and move on to the next thing.  My stash can't handle it.  I'll post it here....  I'm going to try REALLY hard to only get one add-on with January's kit.  I haven't seen anything yet, have a feeling it'll be hard to do, but seriously.  I'm drowning in product here.

Anyway.....  my layout:

I added purple mist to my butterflies, and the Jett alphas with JBS Stick Candy ink for my stamps.  Flowers and butterflies don't really go with a story about teeth, so I wanted to use the SC number paper and the word 4 to go with the story about the 4 front teeth she lost. 


And as promised, the story.  It's long, but I must document the event:

This summer we went to the Silverwood Theme Park in Couer D'Alene Idaho.  We pulled into the park and were waiting in line to pay to park when we became overwhelmed with the smell of diesel.  Lo and behold, it was our truck, and before we could zip through and pay and get to our parking spot, I'm sure we dropped at least $20 in fuel all over the parking lot (we sincerely apologize to those surrounding us at the time, lol).

Steve stayed with the truck to wait for the tow, and the rest of us headed into the park. 

Fast forward about an hour.

We decided to do the water park first.  It is hard to juggle a lot of people, so I eventually took charge and just left them behind so that my kids could play.  And we were doing exactly that.  Morgan was toodling around a kiddie area with slides and this big bucket of water, and I decided I could get some really fun water shots, so got out of my lawn chair to head back to the lockers to get out my Canon when I heard my name, turned around, and my sweet girl came towards me, crying, blood in her mouth.  I had no idea what happened.  I tagged Grandma to watch Payton, and then took her to the bathroom to clean her up.

Long story short, her upper lip swelled up a couple times it's size, but she wasn't bleeding and no teeth were lost.  Steve finally walked in at about the time I exited the EMT room with Morgan and a bag of ice.

We managed to have fun the rest of the day.  Morgan earns a serious gold star here because she didn't take any kind of medication but she was bonked hard and still managed to play.  It turns out there were two little water slides next to each other and she thought it would be fun to sit between them so that when people went down she'd get splashed.  She was climbing up the slide when someone decided to go down it and accidentally kicked her right in the mouth.  oh my.

The next day her lips were purple and so were her gums, but everything else still seemed fine.

(oh, and our truck had some sort of gasket blow or something, lol.  We had it towed and then split our family between the two cars left (there were exactly 4 seats available, amazingly), and then picked it up at the dealership the day before we headed home to Oregon).

Fast forward to Labor Day weekend.  My family was visiting and my sister Alyca approached me and said she thought one of Morgan's teeth looked gray.  After checking it out I agreed, one did look a tinge dark, so I made a dental appointment and then felt like a heel for not noticing myself.

We went in, the hygenist took some x-rays and said she thought things looked fine, but when the dentist checked them out, he pulled me in and said he could see infection draining outside the two front teeth so he wanted to take them out, because he didn't want any infection affecting the two permanent teeth he could see in the x-ray above them.  And then he said that the two front teeth coming in were rather large, and because they'd push out the two teeth on either side, he wanted to pull all four front teeth.

Insert internal panic attack....

My sweet girl, who has not had so much as a wiggle, must now lose 4 front teeth?  This small child, who was pulled out of school after lunch and fully expected to waltz back to class before school was over and then take the bus home?

I immediately phoned Steve in a panic, but after discussing things more we decided to go through with it.

Morgan didn't know what was going on.... and they didn't tell her.  But while she didn't know the specifics, she certainly knew *something* was going on, and I swear to pete, I seriously had to contain myself.  I was so nervous and scared for her.  She looked so small on that chair and I have a lineup of scary stories from when I went through dental and orthodontia work as a child.  I think I had 8 teeth removed over time.  I know I seem melodramatic here but no mama likes to see her baby in pain. 

They used the gas but she was getting nervous and started crying but was breathing through her mouth which made me scared she wasn't going to get enough meds.  I held her hand and was rubbing her palms but then I was worried she'd know I was worried.  It was a nightmare, lol.  I left the room and went to the bathroom 3 times, I think.  I facebooked a couple of times, trying to distract myself. 

Dentists have changed so much though.  She had no idea she got a shot.  She never saw a needle.  And later, while she'd say she wanted to go home, wanted him to stop, etc etc, the dentist always looked over to me and pointed out that while she was saying these things, she wasn't actually fighting him, because her arms and legs were both relaxed.

When we finally revealed that she'd just had 4 teeth removed and handed her the two little plastic treasure chests (because they were so big that they didn't fit in just one, for pete's sake!), she was really excited.

Mom immediately took her to the store for the unicorn Pillow Pet she'd been coveting, lol.  I felt so bad.  And then we called school and told them she wasn't going to be back.  ha!

So there.  I have a great story on the tooth fairy too, it was like scrapbooker heaven, but I am still trying to locate all the memorabilia for that one.  Oh, the letters.  And the card....  oh my.  Wait until you see.

And that's it!  I'll be back tonight with more layouts!  Davinie

Metro Sneaks

I bet you've been wondering where the heck my sneaks are.  Truth be told, I've been wondering myself, lol.  I took my kit with me to the beach with every intention of scrapbooking, and I did, but we were staying in a very old house that had no overhead lighting, the days were dark and dreary, and it takes a special kind of inspiration to scrapbook by candlelight.  That said, I finished my projects and have sneaks to share.

As I mentioned, I bought Park Bench, Busy Sidewalks, and Mass Transit.  Check out my sneaks:

White mist and Stick Candy were the inks of choice for my cardstock on this one.  I used Applejack on my chipboard which matched the alphas in Mass Transit perfectly.  The snowflake stamp and the kraft doilies come from Busy Sidewalks. 

I have another sneak using that add-on in particular on this post.

I'm actually working on another layout right now and hope to have it to share in the morning.  I adore the color palette from this kit.  I adore all the products too.  The kraft doilies in Busy Sidewalks is one of my new favorite things. 

Have a great night!  And don't forget......

There are several good deals left.  Did you see the Addy alpha stamps for $4.50?  whoa.  I also saw that my favorite SC paper to date, this one from Homefront, is on sale for 21 cents.  It also compliments the Decemberk it perfectly, if I do say so.  The Anthology alpha stickers too.  That might be an option if you want to beef up the main kit but can't afford an add-on this month. 

I should note that if you can order as many times as you want between now and the 3rd and you will only be charged shipping once.  It will be charged on the first order you place and then the computer system will adjust based on your username at the time it actually posts charges.  This is the case for SC subscribers as well.  One shipping charge.  Not to enable you or anything.....  :)

See you in the morning!  Davinie

Beach Love - Back in time

Well shoot.  I was trying to schedule this for the AM and hit post by accident.  lol.

As you are reading this, we are toodling along on our way North to pick up my mama in Portland and then head to the Southern Washington coast for our annual winter gathering.

This gathering started as a way to get all 4 kids together with my mama for Christmas, and it's become a fun tradition our family looks forward to every year.

Thinking about it inspired me to look through my digital archives and I wanted to share some of our beach history.

2004:

My baby!  Morgan was 10.5 months old here.  She took her first real steps in the rental house.

We stayed on the Northern Oregon Coast this year. 

2005:

We were in Twin Rocks this year (would you have figured that out with this photo?  heee).  I was about 20 weeks pregnant with Payton.  Morgan was such a ham.

2006:

Oh my.  Payton was about 6 months old and barely sitting up on her own, if I remember right, and my chipmunk cheeked girl was 2.5. 

I could have another baby right now.  Look at her...  oh dear.

We were in Lincoln City that year.  I liked this house and the beach was nice too. 

2007:

This year was a bit of a bummer.  There was a huge storm and flooding so we didn't have access to the beach that year.  We had no power at the beach house either (we were going to go back to that Lincoln City house), so everyone came to Bend and we stayed at Steve's parent's house.  It's big enough and they were out of town.  We still had a great time even though a couple of us didn't have to travel very far.

2008:

We were back at the beach this year.  Oregon Coast.  This was the year of the gingerbread house.  My sister Alyca was able to coordinate 4 kids 4 and under to make a gingerbread house and they had a blast.

It was also super super cold that year and the kids didn't believe we were at the beach because the house was a block or so from the beach.  So we bundled them up and took them down there, spending approximately 10 minutes before we all turned to popsicles and headed back to the house.  But we had our proof!

2009:

Last year we tried something new and went to the Southern Washington coast.  The weather was nice and we had a great time.  This was the year that Lilly joined us.  SO excited to get to hang out with her this year too.

This year we are headed back to Washington to try a different house from the same vacation rental agency.  We just have a big group and need a big space.  I'm looking forward to it!

Note to self:  Wear mascara.  Davinie, you are on vacation, but for pete's sake, there are camera's around.

There is supposed to be some ugly weather on the pass.  I'm not worried as I have my hubby to take care of us, but wish us well!

I will be home on Wednesday but in the meantime, Happy Thanksgiving!  Davinie

P.S.  The deadline for Project 12 was today.  I blame my photo printer.  I really wanted to have something to share. 

Chaos and a sneak

CKC Seattle was a success!  I had a lot of fun in my classes and had a blast with my sweet friend Joy.  We don't have Container Stores and Paper Source in my neck of the woods, so she took me on the Bellevue tour while my sister finished up a couple of classes she was taking, and then we gorged ourselves at Chipotle and didn't complain one bit.  LOVE YOU JOY.

I was worried about the pass, but the snow came and went just for my trip. 

Being worried about traveling alone and getting bored, I got an audiobook and I have to say....  I'm a weeeee bit obsessed with it.  I may or may not be plugged in to an Ipod with it streaming in my ear right now. 

 The Hunger Games Trilogy: The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay


These aren't books I would normally search out, but they are so well written I can't stop listening.  Normally I don't do audiobooks at all, but in addition to the compelling story, it also sounds like Mrs Wilber, Payton's preschool teacher, is reading them to me, and that just makes me all warm and fuzzy.

If you are looking for a gift for a teen, and they haven't already devoured these, I highly highly recommend them.  Get all three though.  They keep ending in a cliffhanger so I can't stop until the end, and I'm just crossing my fingers that the story wraps up at that point or I don't know what I'll do with myself, lol.

As far as crafting goes, I've been having some major printer issues, the quality has NOT been good, but when I contacted Epson about my Photo 1400 they indicated it needed to go in for service.  The two qualified to do so are in Portland, though, and that's 3 hours away.  SO I've been franctically sending my odd sized photos to various 1 hour developers, and haven't been happy with a thing yet.  I tried Walgreens, Fred Meyer, and the best so far has been Costco but I'm still not happy with them.  I don't have time to wait for Scrapbookpictures.com or one of those sites, so I have been pulling my hair out.  We bought my MIL a portable HP printer for Christmas a couple of years ago (she LOVES it, another gift idea for mom and dad) and she brought it over yesterday, but it's printing everything pink.  So.....  in a bit I'm going to spend $30 on a new ink cartridge and see if I can make it work.

It's putting a big hitch in my Studio Calico and Project 12 AND scrapbooking in general, for pete's sake.  It's like losing an appendage!

I did get something done when my kit first arrived but it must not have been slideshow worthy.  I Love love the layout, though, and wanted to share a sneak today:

This was made entirely from the Busy Sidewalks add-on.  Check back on reveal day to see the whole enchilada.  And in case you are wondering, I got three of four add-ons this month.  The only one I didn't pick up was Holiday lights.  I don't normally take a lot of Christmas photos and figured I could make the other products work for Christmas themed layouts if I wanted to do so.  That said, this add-on does come with what will be a coveted stamp (you do have this punch, right?)!

I'm hoping to be back soon with a sneak or at least my Project 12 layout, but my family is trudging back over the hill on Saturday for my annual family gathering.  Because our kids are getting older and we have to take their school schedules into consideration, our Christmas gathering has been moved back to just before Thanksgiving.  We leave on Saturday and will be home from Wednesday.

Take care!  Davinie