Merry Christmas!

A very merry Christmas to all of you who celebrate it!!!! And to those who don't, happy holidays! And for any one who doesn't celebrate anything at this time of the year...Enjoy your days off work! An added bonus.
Tonight is Christmas for us...At least Christmas #1. My family tradition is to exchange gifts on Christmas Eve. My mother's tried to move it back to Christmas day before, but my sister never lets her. My sister is a creature of habit and does not like change...Any change! She's the type who'll wash her socks and underwear right away just so she can wear them again the next day. Yes...She does wash them. Our mom didn't raise little piggies. We live cluttered lives and can never find what we're looking for in our own homes, but we're clean!
Speaking of cluttered...And maybe on the messy side...Take a look at my desk...

That's it...Right now...The sad thing is, I haven't done anything scrappy related in weeks! I've been trying to work on my December album, but something else always comes up and I have to push it aside.
Tonight, we're leaving for my parents' house. We're staying there two nights. Boxing day, we're getting up bright and early to drive to Belleville. We're picking up the other two rugrats and racing down to Stoney Creek to Steve's dad's house. We'll spend two nights there and drive home on Monday. Thank you, bank holidays, for giving me Monday off in lue of Boxing Day on Saturday!
More days of no scrappy time...And then there should be a couple of lovely kits awaiting me. One from WeScrap. Check out the kit peek here. Seriously, I can't wait! I don't know if I'm allowed to share the kit's name with you yet...But let me tell you, it sounds heavenly! I'm hoping to capture some beautiful pictures of Steve's little princess to go along with this kit.
The other kit...Which might arrive today (fingers crossed) is from The Scrapping Bug. Kim has asked me to design for her for another month. She told me what's in the kit and I am soooo excited!
Steve's kiddos will be here while I'm trying to whip out layouts for these kits. I might have to set up a craft area for the princess and I. I believe the big man in red is bringing a certain little monkey some paints. We might have to include him in our crafting.
Until next time...And if I don't blog until 2010...Happy New Year to everyone as well!!!!

Christmas...

'Tis the week before Christmas
And all through the house
Mommy was surprisingly calm
And Mo's noisier than a mouse...

If you don't know who Mo is...She's my sister's hamster. We're hamster sitting while she's away in college. I've gotten used to the stinky, noisey rodent. She's become my excuse to why we can't get a cat.
Don't get me wrong...I love cats! I want one as much as the boys do. I'm just thinking with my head. I have a dog. He lives with my parents because he can't come here. It would not be fair to get a cat when Hercules has yet to move back in with us. And our place is so small and overfilled...We have no room for a kitty litter box.
There are the few odd days out there when I wish I didn't scrapbook just because it takes up so much room. Yep...I said it...Doesn't mean I'm going to give up my beloved hobby though. I just sometimes look at my tiny space and think...We could have a shoe rack and coat hangers there. I could always give up my desk to create more room. But then I would always take over the kitchen table (which I do already, it would just be worse). I love my tiny space though. It's small, cramped and I can never get anything with ease; but it's mine.
And Steve puts up with it so wonderfully; I in turn put up with his paintball gear. Yes, his is more compact than mine. But it's right in front of my bedroom window and the closet. I've fallen over it more often than once. It's not too bad through. One day, we'll have a man cave for him to go nuts in. We'll also have a craft room for me.

Have you gotten your Christmas shopping done yet? I'm almost there. Steve and I went out this past weekend and got almost everything on our list. I don't like crowds. I get very nervous in crowds and can get grumpy and cranky. I had a couple of moments, but over all I did well, I think. There's just a few more items to get and I will be done. A few items I'm waiting for in the mail too. I'm praying they get here this week.

I have no projects or layouts to share today. I didn't find time to finish my wreath. I did finish up some presents, but I can't share those just yet. If I have time this week...I'm planning on working on december daily...which isn't really a daily because I haven't been taking pictures every day. It's more of a Holiday Season album. I've recorded most of our month so far...forgetting to get a picture of Steve and I all dressed up for my staff party...And it'll continue through to the new year when all the visits and Christmas' (yes, more than one) are done.
So, until next time...

Twice in One Week!!

How long as it been since I've posted more than once in one week...Then again, how long has it been since I posted before this week?

I have one more little project to share.

Last year, it was the Christmas of bad photos. I have maybe 5 out of the 300 I took that are nice. So I decided even the bad pictures had to be scrapped.

This was a group shot with Steve. I cropped Steve out to get the kids on the front. Christian was all balled up, Elizabeth was leaning away and Monkey stuck his tongue out. And no one stayed for me to try and get another shot.

This first picture there is Monkey giving the Santa Claus parade a thumbs down. When asked if he likes Christmas, Monkey blew a raspberry (cropped out of the picture is my sister laughing and my mom with her mouth open in shock...It's actually my fave picture. Not beautiful, but funny as heck). And that group shot I cut apart for the front.

Steve's parents have one of the prettiest trees. Patti and I tried to get a good shot of the kids in front of the tree. But Monkey was having a melt down and Elizabeth wouldn't smile. Only Christian smiles. Every shot was in vain.

Bunny ears, not looking at the camera, not keeping the reindeer antlers on and trying to grab the camera. Ah, Christmas...

Until next time...

Is it December Already?

Life is zooming on by here. Daily, it feels like the days are long and full. Then by Sunday, I'm left wondering where my week went?

I've been crafting, gearing up for Christmas, enjoying the magic of Christmas through Monkey's eyes and battling flus and colds. Right now, I have a cold that is trying it's best to knock me flat on my bottom. Plus, thanks to being short staffed, I don't have any days off from work this month (excluding Christmas day and weekends, of course). I was hoping for 4 days a week so I could have one extra day each week to do shopping and crafting. I was little shocked to see my name down for every day we're open. But, I won't be complaining too much when I see those lovely paychecks.

Here's the Countdown to Christmas tree I made. There are little details, bling and gems and pearls that make this tree lovely, but they didn't photograph very well. I'm still not very good with taking pictures. I'm getting better, but I have a long, long way to go.

I've also made a wreath. I'll share a picture when I'm done fixing it. I think it needs more holly berries and will be adding the this weekend.

Here's a cute mini I finished up a couple of weeks ago. I love it!

Kim asked me to guest design for her at the Scrapping Bug once more. I was very excited to see the Eskimo Kisses show up at my door. Such a pretty line!

My sister, last year, was so excited to get this hat from Mom. She's just too cute sometimes. It doesn't show well in the picture, but every reindeer nose has dark pink Stickles on them. So do the flower centers. Beautiful touch in real life!

My fave picture from last year. This one even made it into a snowglobe. I'll have to take a picture of the snowglobe to share too. All around the edge of this one, I used a sparkley embossing powder. The watermark ink changed the shade of the cardstock. Not the look I was going for, but I love it anyway. I also heat embossed the snowflakes with the sparkley power.

I love how this one turned out! And I love that Steve's back home with us.

This was a last minute one. I had an idea and in 15 mins had this layout. I attempted to make ribbon flowers...They didn't turn out as well as they did in my mind. I think I need a lot more practice.

I made cards too, but I don't really like them so I'm not going to share them.

This layout was a blast to make! I've had these Heidi Swapp paintables for a while. I finally used one. First I painted the background with a yellow green colour. A colour I love. But then it was too bright for my Crate paper. So I grabbed my buttercream paint and just lightly sponged and smeared it around the page. The design from the paper pops right through. Next, I stamped with Glitz stamps. Then I distressed my edges. Then I just threw whatever on and ta-da! A layout I love. It's green, it's bright, it's messy and it's unique. It's very me.

And lastly....

A So Sketchy layout from last month.

Until next time...