Dec 28, 2010

The Aftermath

I hope you all have enjoyed a wonderful holiday season with family, friends and lots of love. It was just the four of us this year, but we had a very nice, mellow Christmas. Although you'd never guess how mellow by looking at this shot lol:
It has actually been a rather hectic, crazy busy few weeks (as I am sure it has for everyone!).
We decorated the house and got our tree:
We saw the town tree:

Both kids had holiday parties and I got to volunteer at Little Miss's school for hers:
We went to see the Big Man (well, Little Miss saw Santa, Little Man, clung to Scott completely petrified. His grip was so tight that we would not have been able to remove him and place him on Santa's lap if we wanted to.)
We baked (and ATE) tons of treats. This year we made caramel chocolate cupcake cookie bites, jam butter cookies, fudge, sugar cookies and Black and Whites. This year I was a slacker and did not make the icing for the sugar cookies. I bought a can of Pillsbury green frosting. I only cut the cookies with ONE cutter--trees. I used cupcake liners to divvy up sprinkles so both kids got a bowl of frosting and a plate of sprinkles. I pre baked and cooled the cookies earlier that day. Soooo... cookie decorating was a HUGE hit ;)
And finally, on Christmas Eve, Santa paid us a visit:
We had a fun, Christmas morning and once it warmed up, the kids got to try out their absolute, without a doubt favorite present ever:
They bounced ALL weekend long. They bounced so much that they both complained about sore muscles on Monday!! And these are pretty active kids lol!!
And now we are definitely suffering from Christmas hangover. I noticed my little guy seemed a little off yesterday. I kept asking but he insisted that he was fine. How do Moms just KNOW? Last night he was up coughing. When I went in to give him water he had a fever. Today his eye started looking yucky so I ran him into the Dr. Turns out he has a pretty horrible EAR infection. She was shocked he hadn't complained about it. So after 5 and 1/2 years of having kids we are dealing with our first ear infection. I know most of you Moms are saying I should count my lucky stars this is our first. And I do, but the poor little guy is MISERABLE and it makes me sad to see him feeling so cruddy.
Speaking of the little dude, he was the subject of LAST week's ScrapTiffany challenge...BOYS. Of course I had to use Echo Park's Little Boy line *LOVE* it.
 The white buttons for the airplane smoke are Papertrey.
 Even after making the layout I am still in shock at how my little baby isnt a baby anymore!
And last but NOT least... there is some big news from Elle's Studio this week:
I can NOT WAIT! Be sure to head over to the Elle's Studio blog--they are going to be doing LOTS of sneaks and GIVEAWAYS!!
Have a happy (and healthy) week!
:) rebecca





Dec 18, 2010

EEEK!

Was there a time warp or something? How did we get from December 10th to today December 18th in what feels like 3 seconds?? Bear with me as I have about 8 days worth of stuff to share ;)
First up, ScrapTiffany's challenge this past week was Girl Power. I had received a prize from a random blog comment on the Pebbles blog and it was package of New Arrival girl product. I love the soft pinks and thought it would be fun to use on this non baby layout:
It was fun to use a border sticker as the very top edge of the patterned paper and then mix some chipboard shapes, paper flower and pearl near the title.
The American Crafts Thickers look like they were made to go along with this line, dont they?
Next, up is my blog post today for Just Imagine Crafts. Here is the layout I did using one of the Kreaxions punches and the circle cutter, along with some Echo Park papers and goodies:
Finally, I still have a lot of Christmas cards to make, but I got Little Miss's teachers done (since her last day was friday!). Here is one I used with more Echo Park:
And here is one made with no patterned paper...just Core'dinations White Wash, a cute Hero Arts stamp and a greeting by SRM Stickers!
And last, but certainly not least, my final (and favorite) layout from the 3 Scrappy Boys December Trio Kit...
I know it is super simply, but it makes me happy...
and cracks me up!

Happy Holiday Crafting!
:) Rebecca

Dec 10, 2010

Few on Friday

I can not even believe there are only 15 days left until Christmas!  I knew December was going to fly by, but this is ridiculous!!  For those of you who looked at my last post and assumed I am on top of the Christmas game, let me assure you I am SO not lol! Christmas cards....what? Who? I found a bunch of cards I got at Target last year for 1/2 price--the kind that you glue a photo onto. Great, but that means you need a photo--actually many copies of said photo before you can send it out, right? I have done NO baking yet. NO wrapping. Every time I think I am ahead of the game, all these realizations start to set in and I panic, so...let's just move along, shall we?
This week's ScrapTiffany challenge was to use handmade flowers. Remember that Doodlebug Designs paper I got from Scrapbook Barn? Well I also used it to make this layout:
The crumply flower in the bottom left hand corner was made by punching out some scalloped circles and, well, crumpling them, before gluing them together and adding a button center. You can check out some of the other designers flowers HERE.
I have another quick and easy card made from the 3 Scrappy Boys December Trio.
The punch details will be on the Just Imagine Crafts blog tomorrow morning.
And how about wrapping this up with one or two photos of Christmas stuff that DOESN'T stress me out, that actually makes me happy? I love this handmade, glass ornament, my parents gave me a whole set years ago and we still have all but one.
 The advent calendar. I think I made this 2 years ago? The kids LOOOOOVE it. We have a system where they take turns opening the drawer and then have to give the other person one of whatever is in there. This year I hit Party City for a bunch of little toys so we wouldnt be doing candy every night ;)
 And I love this ornament shaped cookie jar. But it is ummm, empty right now so I guess it qualifies as a stress! And on that note, have a great night!

Dec 8, 2010

Busting at the Seams!!

No, not from eating too much at thanksgiving, although I did ;) I have been dancing around in excitement waiting for the announcement at Elle's Studio so that I could share the news that I made the design team for the January-June 2011 term!!


When I got the email I literally had to re-read the first line a couple of times to make sure it was true! I have loved and used Elle's designs for a while now so being on the design team is really a dream come true. I can not wait to get started! You can see the announcement and the rest of the team HERE. What a line up huh?? I am completely blown away to see my name on the list--thrilled beyond belief!!
Speaking of Elle's Studio, I do have a layout I haven't shared yet here, which includes an Elle's Studio journaling tag:
I debated on whether or not I "needed" those cloud punches, but you can see how long that debate lasted lol. The papers are Echo Park's Everyone Loves Christmas line with a smidge from Walk in the Park. I love when I can use holiday papers easily for non holiday layouts.
And if that isn't enough to make me happy....it really is beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here...
The stockings are hung:
The tree is up...
OK, that is SO not a good picture of the tree. I need to take a full tree picture on Friday when the Bobos (watched GoDiegoGo! lately anyone??) are at school so they are not trying to touch the camera or play with the ornaments. Speaking of the monkeys, they are pretty excited about Christmas and the impending visit from Mr.C.
We made a gingerbread house:
And Little Miss got all gussied up for her Christmas Music Performance:
And speaking of Christmas preparations, we have been doing a 12 Days of Christmas crop at 3 Scrappy Boys including links to projects, ideas and inspiration. I posted a couple of cards today that I made with the December Trio. You can see each day's offerings on the forum HERE.
And last, but not least, a couple of a cards I made for my LSS Scrapbook Barn with the cute Doodlebug Designs Christmas line:

Thanks for stopping by and have a great night!!

Dec 2, 2010

Welcome December!!

I meant to post yesterday, but as always some chaos or other got in the way! Can you believe it is already December 2nd!!??  The 3 Scrappy Boys December kits are in the store NOW and shipping starting today! I got to work with the December Trio and....SIGH....it is fabulous. Gorgeous papers from Basic Grey, Girls Paperie, fabulous Core'dinations cardstock and the MOST gorgeous Maya Road glitter ever. And I am SO not a loose glitter user--but this stuff will totally have you hooked. I think I used it on nearly every chipboard word! Well enough talk, see for yourself a few of the layouts I created:
I love some of the non traditional colors included in the kit.
This was a fun one to make. I wasnt sure how I was going to use the rub on splotches, but I eventually figured they would work well with the annual "after the unwrapping" shot I take.
To color the Merry chipboard I used Studio Calico's Mister Huey in Apple Jack. It is not included in the kit, but it is available in the 3 Scrappy Boys store HERE. WOW--just realized it is on sale for $3.85!!! A total bargain--I cant get enough of the stuff!!
This last layout is the example for my Trio December challenge, which is to use ledger or lined paper as both a design element and for handwritten journaling. You can see my challenge HERE
Here is the Maya glitter:
Not sure if these triangles were supposed to be trees, but I love them as pennants ;)
More mist ;) and check out that glitter cardstock!!
I still have 2 cards to photograph and tons more goodies left to play with! Heathers kits are always packed with fun stuff. And she is doing a huge sale of past kits, check it out HERE. The 3 Scrappy Boys DT is doing a 12 days of Christmas inspirational thread where we are posting holiday ideas and links to blogs and other crafty spots to help get all the last minute stuff done. Come check it out HERE.
And now that my eyes are closing, I think I will say goodnight!