Christmas Fun

We had an amazing time with our family on Christmas!  My brother, Brian, and his wife, Ann, hosted the family dinner and we had lots of food, fellowship and laughter as we celebrated this special holiday.

A couple of days before Christmas, my BFF, Carolyn, said she was going to do up some Christmas Photo Booth Props for her family gathering.  I thought that was a great idea, so I made some up as well.  Unfortunately, she did not have the time to use hers, but my family indulged my silliness and posed for some photos.  Here are just a few of the pictures from our day...

:: sweet Nolan's second Christmas ::

 

 :: Nolan taking a call on his pretend cell phone ::

 :: a few of my beautiful nieces ::

 :: Nathan and Jacob ::

 :: David and his family ::

:: Brandon and Georgette being good sports ::

:: Brian and Ann (aka Mr. Claus and Mrs. Frosty) ::

 :: Brian and his family ::

:: Mamma Claus ::

:: Mr. and Mrs. B ::

 :: our family photo ::

:: Mom and her children ::

 :: someone's having a fun time! ::

:: my very talented niece, Emily, entertaining the family ::

:: Roast Prime Rib - so yummy! ::

:: Last, but not least, my favorite photo of the day.  Spencer (with the pillow in front of his face) and his cousin, Olivia, were patiently waiting for the gift opening.  I laughed at how far apart they were sitting and I couldn't resist taking a photo.  I am calling it "Distant Cousins"! ::

I hope your Christmas was as fun-filled as ours was.  May your New Year be filled with peace and happiness  ♥

Little Red Wagon #165

Our challenge this week at Little Red Wagon is from Dee!  She wants us to use a box or a square on our creation, so I decided to make a square card with a square image. 

Since it has been really cold and a bit snowy lately, I thought it would be perfect to use this sweet snowman image that I found on Pinterest.

I dug out my Copics and gave the image some color and then I added a bit of glitter! I placed the image on a Kraft background that I misted with Mister Huey's white mist.

I also created a bow using a die from Die-namics and then I added a square button to it as a finishing touch :)  Be sure to stop by the other Girlfriends blogs via Little Red Wagon to see what they created this week.  I am sure you will be very inspired!

Walter & Winnie

I wanted to share some Christmas cards that I created this year.

I purchased these adorable owl stamps - whose names are Walter and Winnie - from Willow Designs and colored them using my Copic markers (what else?).  I also added a bit of glitter to the pom poms on their hats and to the fur on the stockings. 

I then paired my images with papers from Basic Grey.  Now I just need to decide who to give them to!

Thanks for looking ~

Little Red Wagon #164

Happy Wednesday!  For this week's challenge at Little Red Wagon, Rosanne is challenging us to create a Holiday Gift Tag.

I was excited to do this challenge because I was able to use a new snowflake die from Die-namics on my project!  I love this die and couldn't wait to start creating with it!

 I kept the design simple with the snowflake taking center stage.

Be sure to check out all the great designs at Little Red Wagon this week!  You are sure to be inspired to create your own Christmas tags!

Canadian Scrapbooker Magazine

A few months ago I was very surprised to receive an email from Canadian Scrapbooker Magazine asking if they could feature me in their 'Passport to Creativity' article in the Winter 2012 issue!  Wow! I was very honored by this request and of course very thrilled to say, "YES!".

A couple of weeks ago, when the magazine finally arrived, it was very exciting to see the finished article!  They published three of my layouts, plus they included my bio and my answers to their interview questions.

Plus, I also had another layout published in the same issue! My Picture Perfect? layout from our August Inspiration Elevator Challenge was accepted for this publication as well!

A number of my friends were also published in this issue and I want to sent a huge congrats to each of them!  Way to go Ann, Laura and Jodi! It is so nice to be in such good company :)

Inspiration Elevator - December 2012

You may recall from last month's challenge that the purpose of this challenge group is to take our scrapbooking to the next level, to stretch our creative process and to grow as artists by embracing challenges that make us think, work and grow.  You can view each of the challenges on my blog - they are posted on the 15th of the month.

This month we have a very talented designer joining us as we explore our scrapbooking limits.  Please join me in welcoming Michelle Hernandez.  Michelle uses a variety of techniques to take her pages to the next level. You can see her amazing creations at her blog "My Analog Life".

This month, our challenger is the super talented Sue Sykes. Sue writes an ongoing article for Canadian Scrapbooker Magazine called Leaving Your Legacy and her challenge this month for Inspiration Elevator was also featured in the Winter edition. This is what she wrote:

"The idea of “Leave Your Legacy” first came about in 2007 when I was

sorting through some vintage photos of my parents. I realized that while

I knew most of the standard information about the images, the profound

information about my parents and relatives was missing - information

that would give me a glimpse of what they had been like when they were younger.

To me, scrapbooking is, of course, a means of artistic expression,

but more than that, it is a way to leave a little piece of history for

future generations in each layout. And so, it amazed me, in talking with

friends who scrapbook, to learn just how seldom they scrapbook about

themselves. All of these incredible people, and their families may not

really know anything personal about them: their hopes, dreams, habits,

likes, dislikes, fears and accomplishments. With this article, I hope to encourage

fellow artists to scrap more about themselves to avoid that from happening.

I think it's important to document your fears as well as your happy

times and accomplishments. Many times, things of which we are FEARFUL,

often characterize our personalities. It's also rewarding to be able to

look back, once you have overcome a fear, to realize how far you have

come. On the heels of my husband's heart attack, this was an obvious

choice for me, but it's difficult to put into words the FEAR that you

feel when faced with the possible loss of your partner. I want to

remember the fear that we both felt, so that it will help us to stick to

our commitment of living a healthier, less stressful life.

So what is it that you FEAR the most?

Not only do I want you to scrapbook about a FEARFUL topic, but I also

want you to include at least ONE product that you have avoided using.

Maybe it's because you are hoarding it and are FEARFUL of using it all,

or maybe you are intimidated by it. Whatever the reason, spread your

wings and challenge yourself to use it."

Fear!  That is a huge topic.  But I didn't have to think for long about one of my biggest fears.  It is the fear of flying in an airplane.  I have flown many, many, many times in my life and I continue to do so, but it is something that causes great anxiety in me after a really bad experience at 30,000 feet one time!  Our plane hit a wind shear and literally fell thousands of feet in just a few seconds.  Once the pilot got everything under control it happened a second time.  I won't go into detail, but the whole experience was terrifying for everyone on the plane.

So, with that in mind, I decided to create a simple page that gently deals with this fear.  I used butterflies as a symbol of myself and a cage to represent how I feel about flying.

I also decided to design my own background using misting, masking and painting!  I have always liked the look of painting on scrapbook pages, but I have never given it a try for fear that I might mess it up! I am happy to say it was fun and easy and I will certainly be doing it again :)

I love working with mists, but I have never done a masking technique with them.  How sad is that?  So with some extra butterflies, I did some masking and I love the subtle look it added to my page.

My birdcage was cut with my Silhouette (love that machine!) and I had fun adding bits and pieces to my design that seemed to support the theme of my page (an airplane sticker, a journal card with a destination on it, a photo of me on a very windy day at the beach as I pretend to be flying, and of course, butterflies that fly free without fear).

**In light of the tragedy in Connecticut yesterday, my fear seems very insignificant compared with the fear of losing our children or not being able to protect them from harm.  May God have mercy on those who are suffering and may our hearts be with them in prayer.**

I hope you will stop by and see what the designers on this adventure have created:

Sue Sykes

Lisa Spiegel

Joanne Burton

Christa Uttley

Laura Whitaker

Audrey Yeager

Lisa Moen

Laurel Seabrook

Ann Jobes

Cathy Harper

Michelle Hernandez, Guest Designer

Thanks for stopping by.  If you would like to participate in this months challenge, please leave a comment linking up your project, and I will be sure to stop by ♥ 

Little Red Wagon #163

It's Wednesday and we are wishing you a PINK Christmas over at Little Red Wagon! Regan has challenged us to create a pink themed Christmas card this week.

I decided to use a new stocking die from Die-namics with some pretty pink paper to create my card.

 

I also did some embossing on the background paper...

...and I topped it off with some pink buttons and ribbon!

Now it's your turn to head on over to Little Red Wagon and enter the "We Wish You a Pink Christmas"challenge. And be sure to check out the fabulous projects the other Girlfriends have done. See you there!

Little Red Wagon #162

Happy Wednesday to everyone!  I am hosting the challenge at Little Red Wagon this week and my challenge is to create a Christmas card with a house on it.

I was so happy to dig through my wagon of goodies and pull out one of my favorite stamps for this challenge.  It is called Artsy House, by Stamping Bella.  I just LOVE this stamp!

I shaded the house with some warm grey Copic markers and added a little red heart to the door.

The papers are from Carta Bella's Christmas Day line. I love the mix of grey and burgundy!

I am also submitting my card for Carolyn's challenge in the Celebrate Christmas On-Line Crop at Two Scrapbook Friends! She wants us to use snowflakes on our project :)

Eeeks!

I interrupt my regularly scheduled Christmas programming to bring you a Halloween layout that I forgot to post!  This was one of my favorite Halloween pages but I haven't shared it on my blog yet, so here goes.

One of my favorite things are the three background pieces that I punched out using a Mini 8 Punch from We R Memory Keepers!  When I finished punching around the sides, I realized that I had these small square of pattern paper left over that matched the base paper design.  So I added them in little clusters in a couple of spots around the page. So cool!

I made a matching accordion flower...

...and had fun with some stickers and tags.  My photos go back a few years, but it feels good to finally get them scrapbooked :)

Thanks for looking ~