Merry Christmas

Wow, lots of pics to share...didn't get too many Christmas photos...just kind of hung out that day in our PJs.

I decided to make a lot of cookies this year. I like to bake, just not all the time. LOL. There are gingerbread men too, but I didn't take a pic. I used a lot of Martha Stewart recipes from her Baking Handbook...lots of good stuff! The cookies on the left are black and white cookies. I saw them in her book and it reminded of a Seinfeld episode. I have never had one, so I decided to add them to my Christmas Cookies list. The mexican wedding cookies are very tradtional in our family. My mom made them all the time for Christmas. The pretzel treats are just melted Rolos on pretzels and then I added buttered pecans. Yum!

We had the strangest weather around here...record breaking snowfall. Super low temps! Feels like your eyeballs will freeze out there. I took this picture from inside my van last week for proof! LOL!

Then a few days ago, the temps got to the 60s, had roads that were frozen, poured for two days straight, fog, high winds, and even tornado watches! Got it all!!

Got a halfway decent picture here of the kiddies. I tried to put some hair wax in Aydan's hair but it didn't come out too well. Poor Kendall, she has eczema on her cheeks and it gets worse in the winter. I tried to photoshop but somehow she had two mouths after that. She lost her second tooth. I keep forgetting about it when I feed her. Kept making her corn on the cob and giving her oranges. She holds her own though!

Took these pics of the kids at the outdoor mall last night. They have this giant Christmas tree that lights to classical Christmas music. Here were sitting in the patio of a restaurant and they had heater lights on. They weren't serving out there of course, but the heat helped a bit. Then, after waiting for 20 minutes, the music came on but the lights didn't...so we left. It was already 6:00 and the stores were closed. What a waste!

I noticed pasta sauce on Kendall's chin when I was looking at this pic and I actually managed to photoshop it out. I'm so NOT good at PS, so I was very happy how this came out!

Kendall and I made these journals yesterday. Got this idea from Kristina Werner...just fold a piece of CS and some computer paper together. Staple the spine part...and there you are!
Kendall likes to doodle so we made one for her as well. There are already crayon stains on the front. I am using mine to jot down decorating ideas or things I want to fix around the house. Its been a big subject around here. Got 26 sheets of paper in mine and I've already used it!

Made this card for some friends of ours who just had twins (boy and girl). Its a big card...5.5" square. I really didn't like it until I added the giant ribbon to it. We are bringing the card and gift to their house so I don't have to worry about mailing it.

Forgive this picture. Later I was wrapping the gift and wanted to dress up this kraft bag. I used a Heidi Swapp mask with some white paint...cut a slit and slipped the back of the card through. Now I don't have to worry about an envelope! Thanks for looking!

Yea, um...this is all I have to say. This is tomorrow's forecast here. Been real hard for us to do wintery things lately. We had a lot of days like this and today is only the first day of winter. Yikes!
6am
3°F
Feels Like-18°F
9am
1°F
Feels Like-21°F
12pm
3°F
Feels Like-19°F
3pm
5°F
Feels Like-17°F
6pm
4°F
Feels Like-17°F
9pm
5°F
Feels Like-15°F

Whew...we've had one tough winter so far and it officially hasn't started yet! I took a vacation day today because there were huge warnings that we were getting up to 14" of snow! After Tuesday's long, 2.5 hour commute home, I had had enough! We probably got 6-8" so far, but its pretty slick with some ice, so driving isn't really safe now. The kids are off from school until January 5th and Ozan is off the whole time with them. He works at a college and they go to school there at the early childhood center. The employees get paid the week between Christmas and New Years, so he is very lucky. I'm thankful that they get to spend that time home!
It was a bit warmer today, not in the single digits like it has been. Kids were dying to sled today so we took them in the backyard since the roads were bad. Our backyard is sloped, which I hate, but it has its benefits...helps prevent flooding to our house and gives the kids a hill to sled on.

Don't let the pics fool you! Aydan was a fuss monster on and off during this time!

I had to take a picture of Kendall holding this chunk of snow! We had some on the ground already and then the new snow was pretty icy...you could just pick it up in one piece. And when you walk on it, its like styrofoam...you could walk on it, but then your foot would fall through a second later. Kinda weird!

Kendall was trying to make snow angels but the snow was too hard! She couldn't even make a dent in it...LOL!

Just some close ups of the kiddies!

...some cards I made this weekend. These were both lifts. The one on the left is from Kristina Werner...I really wanted to use my coffee stamp that I had forever. On Kristina's card she used vanilla embossing powder, which I have been looking for but couldn't find. I scored some recently made by American Crafts...since when did they make embossing powder?

The other one is a lift by Nicole Heady, one of the owners of Papertrey Ink...I've come across her blog here and there and its a wonderful place to visit. I'm trying to update my google reader and she is definately "reader worthy".

OK, I've gotta say that I can't believe how nice the bow came out! That can hold me up trying to get that right! On the butterfly card I added some Liquid Pearls and some pencil coloring (to the first butterfly) just to change it up a bit. When I'm feeling uncreative and just want to scrap a bit, I will lift something just to get the creative juices flowing!

And here is a serious case of hat head. I had a hard time capturing it in the picture but OMG..it was SO funny!

Supplies Used:

Thank You

Cardstock: Stampin Up

Ink: Staz-On and Versamark

Stamps: Stampin Up and Wordsworth

Marker: Copic

Embossing Powder and Ribbon: American Crafts

Celebrate

Cardstock: Stampin Up and Hobby Lobby

Patterned Paper and Ink: Stampin UP

Stamp: Hero Arts

Paper Piercer: Making Memories

Die Cut Machine: Cuttlebug

Pencils: Prisma

Punch: Marvy

Buttons: Autumn Leaves

Sticker: Deja Views

Liquid Pearls

Elf Yourself!

Elved my family. OMG, my son Aydan looks SO cute here..well, he is cute! My kids were rolling on the floor with laughter on this one...
http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/LjhktlqwNoXAhhFHtbRd

and one with my in-laws and the kiddies...I don't think they'd mind...they have a funny sense of humor!
http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/ycEo2d6SALP04F9F

Teacher's/Caretaker Gifts

Whew, I've done a ton of scrapping this past week, but lately I've been setting shop up in the kitchen or family room at a table so I can catch up on my DVR. It has been as low as 5 degrees around here lately...and snowing...and windy. We're stuck inside for sure!

So I wanted to make something cute for my kids teachers and caretakers for Christmas this year. I printed a pillow box template onto some cardstock, ran it through the Cuttlebug twice, scored, folded it, and glued each one shut. The sides open up on both ends. I cut a notch at the end of one of the flaps so it would be easier to open. Made 10 of these. That is how many I needed exactly, but now I'm thinking I should have made a couple of more, just in case!

The tags were made using the Slice and some Making Memories stamps. I used a craft Stampin Up pad and then added this Ranger Holographic Embossing power. This stuff is cool...but you have to have a very juicy stamp pad for it to work (should of taken a close up, this picture doesn't show it at all). Added some ribbon and viola...easy to make. I originally was going to use some shabby chic patterned paper but then I came across this ribbon I bought a couple of weeks ago at Michael's, so I based my design on that. The blue cardstock here is Tempting Turquoise from Stampin Up and its my all time favorite colored cardstock...if its ever discontinued, I will cry! I chose some other colors just to mix it up a bit.

I blurred out my last name on the tags in photoshop for these pics...just something I get weird about!

Oh, and just a hint...if you even make these...after you glue the end down and let it dry, tie the ribbon around the box while flat and then open it up. It makes the tie nice and snug to the box so it doesn't slip. Thanks for looking!

Supplies Used:

Cardstock, Ink: Stampin Up

Stamps, Diecut Machine: Making Memories

Ribbon and Pen: American Crafts

Silver Bling: Michaels

Embossing Powder: Ranger

Another Challenge!

Love the challenges! Kinda saves me the steps on figuring out what I want to do. This LO was a challenge from Laura's Blog, Mary's Blog, and Lisamarie's Blog...the challenge was to use purple, vellum, and the number 13. I don't use purple a lot, but have 2 shades of Stampin Up cardstock. When I started brainstorming here, I knew that I wanted to use a black and white photo, my Slice, and my Sizzix Stampin Up Big Notz diecut. Lately, I've been on the cardstock kick lately...totally ignoring my patterned paper. I think I get frustrated trying to coordinate sheets! I love using a light shade of blue when I use purple...love the color combo, so I decided to go with that! I started with this picture of Aydan when he was 9 days old cause it was the only black and white photo I had printed out...and its so cute anyway. Started with a 8x8 scalloped cardstock for the base, covered that with a MM patterned paper and then layered that with 3 diecuts of the Big Notz on vellum. There are 13 flowers cut out here and I stamped each one with a different definition stamp...arranged them around the picture in no particular pattern and added some felt letters. Looks easy, and it was, just time consuming...just worked on it a bit each day. OK and after finding those links, I realized that ribbon was part of the challenge...just pretend that strip of paper is ribbon. Not going to take pics again.

And now that its winter, its hard for me to get pics of my layouts...have to wait until the weekend. I was seriously going to take a picture of my LO's on my patio table, but it was covered with snow, and it was super windy out...and about 25 degrees. The temperature won't stop me, but the wind and the snow will! LOL! I propped my LO's on my kitchen chair and angled it toward the patio door. Even though it was cloudy and snowing today, it was bright in the house from the reflection of the snow. That was enough to get great lighting on my pics!

That is one of the few benefits of living in a cold climate! LOL!

Another 8x8 page I did last week of Kendall and her best friend at school. These two are joined at the hip and have been friends for 2.5 years...that's a lot of time when you're 5! I lifted a LO from Sheri Reguly here...fell head over heels for her LO and it became a "must lift"! I really wanted to lift it 100% but after I go through the first portion of it, I just gave up. She's too good to lift exactly...plus I didn't have all the exact products she did.

Products Used:

"Aydan"

Cardstock: DCWV, Stampin Up

Patterned Paper, Diecut Machine: Making Memories

Definition Stamps, Ink: Stampin Up

Mirror: Heidi Swapp

Buttons: Autumn Leaves

Stickles: Ranger

Vellum and Pop Dots

"Kendall and Anthony"

Cardstock & Cardstock Trim: Bazzill

Patterned Paper: Making Memories and DCWV

Clip, Staples, and Flower: Making Memories

Stamp: Hero Arts (quote) Inkadinkadoo (fluorish)

Heart Diecut: Jenni Bowlin

Stickers: Heidi Grace and KI Memories

Silver Gems: Mark Richards

Ink: Memories and ColorBox Chalk Queue