Christmas Reflections

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Well, the gifts have all been opened, the kids OD'd on cookies, candy canes and anticipation. Now the house is quiet, still and pretty well turned upside down. Bits of wrapping paper, video game packages and little action figure dudes decorate my living room.

Overall, I'd rate it as a good holiday.

There were things I wanted to do for the holiday, but ran out of time.
One was baking nut roll, That's on my radar to do this week. The kids and I did get to make and decorate sugar and gingerbread cookies.

Jimmy had been given a bag of "Reindeer Dust" by one of the teacher aides at school. Containing oatmeal, cinnamon and glitter, it is designed to entice the reindeer to your house by appealing to his senses of sight and smell. He was very intent on sprinkling it around our backyard. I heard him saying, " I really hope this works."

This puzzled me, but it came out later that he was genuinely concerned this year that he would somehow not be on Santa's list. Poor kid, he's always been a worrier. So I bet him that Santa would not leave hm off his list. I have to remind him to pay up...

During our trip to Disney this year, we went to the Monster's Inc. Laugh Factory attraction. The Mike Wazowski picked my dad out of the audience to be "THAT" guy - the one to be picked on throughout the show. Dad was such a good sport and really got a kick out of it.

I embellished this little green frame from Target with Reminisce's Monster Collection to make this gift for him:

I packaged it with a plush from the Disney store. Dad really was thrilled.

Since my dad's diagnosis, I worry about each coming holiday being my last with him. I felt this fear even more so since his liver mets recurrence. It seemed to be on his mind more so too.
I'm so grateful he still felt well enough to celebrate with us in our traditional way and I'm so glad I was able to make him laugh.

The kids were pleased with their gifts as well:

Brenna wearing one of her new outfits:

Tommy nervously trying out his Power Wheels:


Jimmy with his guitar:

The big boys doing some gaming:

And last but not least, the annual holiday pajamas!

Speaking of holiday jammies, here is a page I made recently, using paper from Reminisce. These pictures are from 2 years ago. I can't believe how much the kids have grown since then! Looking forward to scrapping this years picture...:

I was even called and given holiday time for work tonight, just as I hoped. I had passed it up all year in hopes of being able to be home tonight.

I hope you all had a peaceful and blessed Christmas. May the joy and happiness you felt today stay with you throughout the new year.

Getting in the Christmas Spirit

So I've had Christmas on the brain for months now.

A co-worker and I created our floor's charity tree for the Wadsworth Anthenuem Festoival of Trees. Our theme was SEA-sons Greetings and we started working on it in October. Our tree sold the first day of the festival and won second place for the People's Choice award.

Here are some of my favorite details from the tree:

This tree inspired me to translate the aquarium feel to a mini album.

I made this mini for my parent's Christmas gift:

I started with a gatefold acrylic album by Midnight Oil Scrapbook Designs.

I used alcohol ink along the outside of the pages. Then I got busy with papers and stickers from Reminisce's Under the Sea line. Some pages have double sided paper, some are clear. The fun part was to add embellishments in front of and behind the acrylic pages. This added a lot of dimension.

I'm so pleased with how it turned out. The pictures don't do the album justice though. I think my folks will love it. Now I have to scrap my pictures of the Sea Christmas tree!

Another late night- why do I always feel the urge to blog in the wee hours?


I'm an all or nothing type of gal - if I'm blogging, that means I have lots to talk about.
If I don't blog, it's likely that I don't feel witty or interesting.


Tonight I feel chatty.


Let's start with the best news in a long time...

My husband has finally found a job!
I'm so excited for him and us. He's been out of work for seven months. Looking forward to moving forward and closing this chapter of our life. It will be the first time in 13 years that we will both be working full time. It's going to be a little crazy, I bet. But we're an amazing team, so I know we'll adjust quickly. Looking forward to having a little breathing room with our finances too. We've learned a lot of lessons about what REALLY matters.



Another change to talk about...

After a lot of soul searching, Dolores and I have decided to end the Dreamgirls Challenge blog.

We both have faced many personal challenges the past several months. As much as we loved working with our amazing team and sharing inspiration, we realized we both needed to refocus our energies in other directions. Thank you to all who participated .



I'll be teaching a mini album class at New England Scrapbook Company on January 4th.

"A Season to Remember" will give you a chance to scrap soome of those many photos you're sure to take this holiday season. It features yummy Ki Memories products in a mix of non-traditional colors. Here are some sneak peeks of what you'll be making:

So if you'd like to join me, call the store at (860)693-9197 to sign up.

Snacking on some chocolate drizzled caramel corn as I type. Pure heaven in my mouth. And probably pure inches to my hips, but let's not think about that... ;0)

Can you believe that Christmas is only 3 weeks away? YIKES! I haven't even thought about what I might be shopping for. No tree up or lights outside yet. I haven't baked one cookie yet.
But it always gets done so I'm not going to get stressed out about it. I've been working with holiday pictures and papers lately, so I'm definitely getting some cheer.

Let me tell you about an exciting venture my friends Dolores and Michelle have started. Timeless Daydreams is a new kit club that has launched their debut kit this week. At $35.99, this kit, featuring Pink Paislee, is chock full of yummy embellishments, especially lots of pretty bling from Prima.

I feel so honored that they asked me to design for their debut kit. My brain was spinning with possibilites when I opened my box.
So without further ado, here are my projects:

Check out the little tree - it's embellished with Prima pearls!


I fell in love with the beautiful Prima birds and crystal spray in the kit. I created a shadow box from old wooden candy packaging and added some faux greenery.
This is on display in my living room.

I made this ornament from an empty ribbon spool. I added a few items from my stash, like the lace, twine and jingle bell. It will be on display at my LSS (New England Scrapbook Co.) on the employee Christmas tree.

I decided it would be fun to embellish the back side of the spool as well.

I have one more layout to post, but I need to re-take the photo since there wasn't enough natural light and it doesn't do the page justice.

Take a minute to join the Facebook Fan Page and see the other projects created by Dolores, Tanisha & Cristal. Then go purchase your kit because there are limited quantities and you NEED to get this one!

Earth to Debbie...

Come in, Debbie!
Yes, my blog has been off the radar for a while.

Life happened.
I went back to work full time and needed to shift gears for a while. Had to figure out how to balance supporting five kids with my need for "me" time.

I stepped back and took a creative hiatus. But I found I miss it too much. So I'm wading back in, testing the waters.

So stay tuned - I'll have some new stuff to share soon!

It's August already!

Can you believe it?
Here in New England, it's been the rainiest summer I can remember. The kids are finally able to get outside and it's time to go back. Hardly seems fair.

The good thing about the start of a new month is new kit releases!

This month I designed with Kit 2 from Treasured Scrapbooking:



This kit features a mix of Jenni Bowlin, American Crafts & Little Yellow Bicycle products. Just beautiful! Here's my first layout:




I also used this layout for the current Dreamgirls challenge, which is to use wings, paint and glitter on your page. Easy, right?

Speaking of Dreamgirls, our sponsor for this challenge is I Am A Scrapaholic.
Here is my first layout with this yummy kit:






Hope you're enjoying your last days of summer!

A few days of R & R...

Home today after spending a few days in upstate NY.
My parents had rented a house on Schroon Lake with my aunt and uncle,and invited us up for a few days.
It was wonderful.
Reconnected with my aunt and uncle, who I hadn't seen in years.
The kids loved the water, the sunshine and family time.
Just what the doctor ordered.

Here are some pictures from the trip:

Actually, I took a LOT more pics, but these are my favorites of what I've gone through so far.

Scrapped some tonight with my August Treasured Scrapbooking kit. I just might post a sneaky peek sometime soon. Love this kit - be sure to check out the debut on the first.

Well, it's getting pretty late here - goodnight!