Before and After

Well, it seems that the days following Christmas always get me in an organizing mood.

So, I decided to start with one of my favourite areas in my house-- my scrappy space. It's a corner of our rec room in the basement, but I love it. However, before Christmas, it was getting pretty messy...





Crazy.

So yesterday morning, I started cleaning and purging and putting stuff aside to price for a scrappy garage sale that they're having in a few weeks at an overnight crop I'll be attending. And recycling and tidying and reorganizing...

You get the picture.

And here are the results:

The last job I still need to do is to put my huge, huge pile of layouts into albums. But other than that, I'm done. :)

Anyone want to come over and scrap with me? ;)

So, how was your Christmas?

Well, I can't say that ours was the greatest....Sage, Cameron & I were all sick Christmas Eve night. :(


So, the next day, we skipped our family gathering (we totally did not feel up to it and we didn't want anyone else to get sick.) We managed to make it through opening gifts in the morning. Austin wanted to read the rest of our advent story before opening the gifts AND he wanted to give us our gifts before receiving his own. That was the best Christmas gift I could have gotten! :)

I did manage to take a few pictures and was super happy with this gem:





Our Christmas was quite low-key, but the kids didn't seem to mind at all. They were thrilled about the gifts they received from us, their Uncle Trevor, Tatiana, Noah and Grandma Davies.

Lots of smiles.





We spent the rest of the day just hanging out at home: napping, watching movies...not as planned, but hey, that's life...

By the way, the design team tags are up at the The Inspired Scrapper if you'd like to check mine out and those of my talented teammates. :)

Hope your Christmas was merry & bright!

Wishing....

you all a very Merry Christmas!!







I'm so thankful for all of you. God has blessed me with wonderful friends-- both online and in real life!!

May you all have a fantastic holiday season and may God bless you everyday of 2009!

(BTW, a few people commented on the soft blur in my Tuesday photo for Project 366, week 51. I actually blurred it like that for the blog-- I didn't have permission from all of the parents in the choir to post it, so I blurred out the background faces as best as I could. I used Picasa 3 to do so-- the soft focus feature.)

Merry Christmas!

Project 366, week 51

It's so crazy to think that in another week and a day, I'll be taking my last photo for this project!

Here are my photos of the day for the past week:



Tuesday, Dec. 16: Austin had a special part at his school Christmas concert and sang in a trio with two other boys from his class.


Wednesday, Dec. 17th: Got some presents wrapped.


Thursday, Dec. 18th: The kids performed for the seniors at our church afterschool. Austin played Up on the Housetop, Sage sang Away in a Manger and Jonah sang Jingle Bells. :)

Friday, Dec. 19th: I was asked to volunteer at the boys' school in the afternoon. I helped the kids make these reindeer ornaments out of popsicle sticks.

Saturday, Dec. 20th: The highlight of the kids' week-- watching Saturday morning cartoons.

Sunday, Dec. 21st: Our church Christmas concert in the evening. Sage was an angel and had a line: "Hello Mary. It's my job to tell you of a gift from God." She did great! I loved this shot I got of her and her friend chatting on stage during the concert! Too cute!

Monday, Dec. 22nd: With our cousins this year we picked names and said that the gifts had to be homemade. Here are Jonah and Sage working on one of theirs in the kitchen.

Thanks for looking!

It's been a while...

since I've updated. Sorry. I caught a bad cold that has all but knocked me out. I'm feeling a bit better today, but feel there's a lot I need to catch up on.

Oh well, now that the kids are on break, I'm sure that'll be no problem. Ha!

I posted a project on the Just Cre8 blog. If you'd like to check it out, you can click here.

In other scrappy news, I was asked to join a scrapbooking challenge site made up of Canadian scrapbook artists. It's called The Inspired Scrapper. The site is up if you click on the link. More info about the design team will be posted next week.

And a layout to share:

I created it using this week's Scrappy Formula at CMK. I also used Bazzill cardstock, Sandylion, October Afternoon and Stampin' Up! patterned paper, Scenic Route letter stickers and Stampin' Up! (tree, leaves) and Hero Arts (owl) stamps.

Thanks for stopping by!

Project 366, week 50

Wow, in the home stretch now. Only a few weeks left of 2008, so only a few weeks left of my project 366....

Here are my photos of the day for the past week:


Tuesday, Dec. 9th: I put out some Christmas decorations.


Wednesday, Dec. 10th: I got my Christmas cards written, addressed and mailed.


Thursday, Dec. 11th: Sage was amusing herself by setting up the wooden nativity pieces like a train.


Friday, Dec. 12th: Friends of our came over for a visit in the evening. I took this picture of Sage with Alex. (Aren't they beautiful?)

Saturday, Dec. 13th: Austin, practising some Chrsitmas songs.

Sunday, Dec. 14th: Austin & I played battleship after lunch. He won.

Monday, Dec. 15th: These two were sick Sunday evening, so they spent the day in their jammies, getting better. Here they're practising Away in a Manger.

Thanks for looking!

Baby, it's cold outside...

Brrr...

We were quite surprised they didn't cancel school today it's so cold out. But they only cancel when it's -45 degrees C and this morning, it was only -42.

So, that make this the perfect day to stay inside and enjoy some scrapping. ;)

So, where to begin?

It's reveal day at Just Cre8 today, where they're revealing January 2009 kit. You can check it out here, along with two layouts that I created with their kit. I was very excited to play with this, my first Just Cre8 kit, as a part of my prize for winning their Creative Idol contest last month. My prize included a three month spot of their DT, starting with the January kit. :)

I also wanted to share with you the mini-book I created this past month at Rock & Read, a program that Sage & I attended over the past six weeks at our local library. It was facilitated by Karen, who is so fabulous! For part of the time, we sang songs and did rhymes together with our preschoolers, then the kids played/looked at books/made a craft, while the moms made a book for their kids.

I called mine Christmas List, and it was inspired by this.

I used pictures from the past 8 years or so. It's made with Bazzill cardstock and Scenic Route products for everything else. I bound it together with a Bind-it-all.

Well, I'm off to make myself some hot chocolate...

Thanks for looking!

Busy, busy,

busy...

Getting ready for Christmas, taking care of sick kids (all three, but mostly in shifts...), working on some DT stuff that I can't share quite yet...

(But don't worry, you'll be the first to know! ;) )

I got my Christmas cards addressed and mailed off and a few gifts wrapped (for Sunday School teachers, etc.)



On Friday afternoon, we went to our last Rock & Read where I completed my Christmas book and Sage and Karen showed it to the group. (I'll have to take some pictures and share it here, asap.)



Friday evening, we had our annual gathering with our friends, Val & Pam and their families. We go to know them twelve years ago when Cameron & I joined their Bible Study group and I am so happy that we are still good friends so many years later. A fun evening of yummy food, good conversation and lots of laughter.



I've been a little remiss in using the Christmas countdown calendar that I made this year. In fact, one evening, Austin made his own note ("Play hot and cold to find the treats") and put it in, after he'd hidden some suckers for Jonah and Sage to find!

But last night, I did use it.



The present was a KinderBunnies game that had been recommended to us by my friend, Bryan. We all really enjoyed it and Austin is itching to move up from the Beginner level to the next level of play.

And, I got three layouts done yesterday, but I can only share one today.

I created it using Liz's Friday Sketch #6, as well as some Bazzill cardstock, My Mind's Eye and Cosmo Cricket patterned paper, Doodlebug letter stickers, Maya Road chipboard snowflake and Heidi Swapp Silhouette snowflakes.







I used white ink and white embossing powder on the chipboard snowflake and then added soem glitter.

Well, I hope you're enjoying your weekend. It's very, very cold here, so we're staying inside, where it's nice and toasty warm (now that dh has left and I've turned up the thermostat-- ha. ha.)

A big thank you

to everyone who left such positive and encouraging comments on my last post about my CMK DT entry! I feel overwhelmed and blessed to have such a wonderful online community of friends!!

I always wanted to share my photos of the day for the past week with you today:


Tuesday, Dec. 2: We put up our tree and the lights in the evening.


Wed, Dec.3: Jonah, playing in the backyard after school.


Thursday, Dec. 4: Sage, helping me bake.

Friday, Dec. 5th: Again, Sage helping me bake!

Saturday: Dec. 6th: Meringue kisses.

Recipe:

4 egg whites

1 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

3 to 6 drops of green food colouring

non-pareils sprinkles (optional)

Beat egg whites with a mixer on high speed until stiff peaks form. Gradually add sugar while beating. Add vanilla and food colouring.

Put in a pastry bag with a star tip. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil. Create mini Xmas trees by making a spiral form with the pastry bag. Sprinkle with non-pareils. Bake at 200F for 2 hours. Cool. Store in a tupperware container.

Sunday, Dec. 7: we finally decorated the tree after church.

Monday, Dec. 8: Austin and Jonah stayed home from school because they weren't feeling well.

Thanks for looking!