So the holidays have come and gone - I'm slowly putting my house back together, purging old stuff to make room for new. I'm happy to have some new holiday decorations to put away, thanks to some DT projects.

For Midnight Oil Scrapbook Designs:
The first is a Christmas Countdown calendar I made with their Easel Mini Album, some extra acrylic pages and my Bind It All:




The next is an acrylic banner that looked pretty with the snowy theme of my tree:



For Treasured Scrapbooking:

This wall hanging was a plain wooden plaque from the local dollar store. I used watercolor pencils to color the sweet birds on the Jenni Bowlin paper included in the December kit. The crackle paint layered over some gold acrylic added some vintage holiday feel:






And a "Let it Snow" holiday banner that I made using some wooden snowflakes from M's. The closeup shows the wonderful sparkly effect the Mica flakes add:






Sadly, the snowflake banner was trampled by Tommy and Harley, so I'm gonna have to redo one of the flakes or just pitch it all togerher.

Here's a couple of pictures of a mini album I made for the holiday Bazaar raffle at my kids' school, using gorgeous Paper Loft papers available at New England Scrapbook Co.:




Looks like I've been busy, huh?
Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

It's the Holiday Season...

And a whoop-di-do!
Sorry, for some reason that song is stuck in my brain today, LOL. I've been meaning to blog for the past couple of weeks, but kept putting it off. Not for lack of having something to blog about. I've got lots of news and projects to share. It's just that I was afraid it would turn into a monster post!

So let's see... my birthday came and went with the big ice storm on the 12th. We spent the day without power. Since our well and oil burner don't work without power, that meant we had no heat or running water. We spent most of the day bundled up in the living room around the fireplace. The kids had fun playing with legos and action figures. They were almost disappointed when the lights came back on. Ahh, to be young! For those of you that don't get to see ice storms, well they really can wreak destruction. Here's a young tree in my yard that was bent with the added weight:


But, the ice can make trees look like art too:



Let's see, I do have some scrappy stuff to share...
First, a toot! I was asked to join the Design Team at Scrap for a Cure. I've known for a while and have been patiently waitin to share! Diana and Patti put together an amazing mix of papers and embellies, always with beautiful trims and a fun vintage find. This month's kit is gorgeous - grab one to scrap all those holiday photos you'll be taking!


Here is my layout for the latest Dreamgirls challenge:





This challenge features a sketch by the talented Liz Qualman. The twists are to use a holidy song as your title and to add some glitter. I used Stickles on the holly berries and outlined my chipboard title with some Pink Paislee Pixie Sticks. Love how this turned out! Hope you'll get a moment to scrap a bit and play along with us.

Okay, so this post is getting a bit lengthy - still have tons to share, but tomorrow's another day, right? Until then...

Making a List

Tonight I spent the evening helping the kids make their lists for Santa. We've been talking about scaling back, and not just for the financial reasons. A few years ago I heard or read this somewhere: that since Jesus only received 3 gifts on his birthday from the 3 Wise Men, then maybe we should too. If the Son of God received only a few gifts, why should we have so many? This line of reasoning made sense to me, and helps to bring the focus back to what the holiday is really about. So the kids made their list and really, compared to other years, didn't ask for the sun, moon and stars. I hope that they will be happy with less.

Mike brought the tree up today and we'll decorate it over the next several days. I can't believe how fast time seems to be going! I have the Christmas Story on tonight and am enjoying it as always.

Here is my layout for the latest Dreamgirls challenge - to scrap something (not someone) that you can't live without. The twists are to use paint and chipboard on your layout. I used the November Treasured Scrapbooking kit for my page:



The mug in this layout was a gift from the kids a few Mother's Days ago. I love it. It holds just the right amount of coffee. I'll wash it out before pulling a different mug out of my closet. It makes me smile. It reminds me that I'm blessed when I'm feeling tired and sorry for myself. It's truly a "must have" for me.

Starting to get a bit sleepy here, with a busy day ahead of me tomorrow, so I'm signing off. Goodnight!

December 1st!

Can someone please tell me where November went? I'm still up to my eyeballs in fall photos and it's time to get out the holiday decorations already!

Anyway, I have lots to share today, starting with the reveal of the December kits over at Treasured Scrapbooking.

Here's the first page I made with the kit:



and here's another for my holiday music challenge:


Today was the start of the new DT term - you need to go check out the rest of the kit reveals - these girls are seriously talented!

Today we announced the new DT members at Dreamgirls. We were blown away with how many talented scrappers applied. We wish we could have chosen more! The new team will start with the December 15th challenge. So without further ado, here they are:

Elizabeth Carney

Sophia Soh

Chataqua M. Yardley

Susan Dupre

Erin Gudge

I'm really looking forward to working with these ladies. I hope you'll check us out!