January Swaps & Snow Days

Since the holidays we have been trying to get back on a regular schedule, but the weather has been a little uncooperative...the children have had days off, early release (due to weather) and snow days...all this makes for a wacky week. On our last snow day, Jarek and I took the dogs for a walk....they love the snow. It was cold but beautiful out. We stopped to take a break...walking with them is exercise!

In between putting up holiday decorations and shoveling snow, I have been working on several swaps. Here are just three that I have completed so far...

This is for an Layout Element Swap. I had the surprise element. They did not come out quite the way

I envisioned...but I really wanted to use the quote..."Snowflakes are winter's butterflies", so this is what I came up with....I think once it is all put together with the other elements I will like it better.

This is the card I did for a "Love is in the Air" swap...I didn't want something overly Valentine's-y...I like this because it is versatile. I heat embossed the tree and then added red stickles for the berries. I matted the tree and the red handmade paper on black. I then added a strip of white cardstock that I used a border punch on. I layered some red satin ribbon on top of it. Originally I was going to make a heart charm to dangle from the knot that said (love in bloom), but I changed my mind...

Finally, these are for a new swap we are doing on my Facebook Group (Paper Crafting Divas)...recipe cards. the finished product has to be 4x6, so I did my 8x6 and folded it...I didn't want my recipe to be cramped up on a smaller card. I decorated the front and attached my printed recipe on the inside. I am looking forward to collecting these through the year:)

I have three more swaps to finish...two Cricut Cuts and a paper bag album...the album is coming along, just have to do a little embellishing and binding. I have picked my Cricut Cuts...not to just cut them.

Hybrid Layouts

I have been experiementing wth my layouts...latest is "Hybrid Layouts". I create a digital layout and print. i then use that 8x11 as my main element in a traditional 12x12 layout. Add traditional embellishments...stickers, flowers, ribbon,e tc. I thought it might be a time saver...a little...maybe more as I get more comfortable with it. I like the way they came out though. What do you think...

DS helped with these...

This is definitely a techniques I will use again...not completely though...I still like my glitter, flowers and rhinestones:)

Christmas Craziness!

Wow! This month has flown by and been filled with caziness. As you already know, if your read my other posts, we started the month off with a sleepover to celebrate Jarek's birthday. the following week I spent getting ready for our annual Christmas open house.

I had baking to do, gingerbread houses to prep, more decorations to put up, etc. Out of our three Christmas trees only one cooerated, the other two, with pre strung lights, decided to not light up completely. I was able to repair the champagne tree, but the other was hopeless. I spent 2+ hours folling strings, checking bulbs and rearranging cords...all to no avail. So, time for a new tree!

Our open house was very fun, as ususal, but we did have a much smaller crowd this year due to the weather. Instead of our ususal 75+ we had 35-40. The little kids enjoyed decorating their gingerbread houses, the big kids sompared iPods, iPhones and other electronics while the adults made merry. needless to say....lots of leftover goodies! I made plates up for the few neighbors who were not able to make it & Jarek delivered them on Monday...a snow day!

That brings us to the last week of school before break...they had two snow day! Great, that only leaves one for the rest of winter. Jarek had a lot of fun ont he first day...snowboarding and sledding with his friends. It was so nice...they are at the age now that I don't have to take care of them...almost didn't know that I had a living room full of kids:)

In between all that I managed to do a little crafting...I made these for my crafting girlfriends...they are fuzzy socks rolled up and stuffed in a sundae dish with a candy stick for a straw. I thought they turned out cute.

These are gift card holders...I got the idea from Sandy Genovese's sight...when you pull the card open the center square flips to reveal a gift card. I did adjust my pattern...her's did not fight in a standard envelope & i really didn't want to make envelopes, so with a little math I adjusted it so they will fit in a 5x7 envelope.

Today I have to wrap presents...one of my least favorite things to do...guess that is why I am updating my blog. Ok, I have procrastinated enough...I will wrap all presents today!

Hostess Gift

I needed a quick hostess gift and this is what I came up with. The scalloped circles with the spirelli I received in a swap. After looking at them for a few minutes I had my idea...I found the perfect sheet of paper in my stash and pulled out my spellbinders I used the spellbinders to cut the white & black mats for the circles, added an enamel 'thank you" sticker, some ribbon and photo corners on two of the cards....Cute!

How quickly they grow...

Last night we celebrated my son's birthday with 9 of his closest friends...and yes, thank you for asking, we are insane. This was not just a birthday, it was his becoming a teenager birthday...13!

When I look at him it is hard to believe that this young man in front of me is the same preemie I couldn't even hold 13 years ago. Oh, yes, like everything he does his birth was a little dramatic. My little guy started trying to join us over Thanksgiving weekend...he was not supposed to join us until well after Christmas. I had to be taken to a special hospital with a neonatal unit, once there they seemed determined to keep him cooking a little longer, so drugs it was. After about a week it was decided that it was time to let him out into the world. Again, bring on the other drugs....about 14 hours later there he was. Yes, he came too early, but despite that he was healthy. We were very lucky and able to bring him home after only a week in the neonatal unit. Like mom always said, we just cook 'em faster....he was fine, no problems to deal with...at least health wise.

When we brought him home we had this lovely, wooden cradle for him to sleep in...he hated it. We tried everything...crib, bassinet....then my Mom-mom suggested a laundry basket. He loved it! It was just his size and that is where he slept until he was about 6 months old. It was great for me too because I could just move him around the house. Seems like only yesterday that he would fit in that basket, now his feet hang over a twin bed!

I digress...Last night our son and his friends overtook our home. They ate...hot dogs and homemade french fries. John said they had to have homemade fries, so that was his job - fry cook. After stuffing their faces they went outside to burn it off...flashlights in hand they ran amok for about 2 hours in our yard, at least our yard most of the time. Then it was time to sing...cake and presents. We then sent them to the family room with two movies, a Wii, iPods, and snacks (you have to have more sugar:)...at 3 AM I gave in and went to sleep to the sound of iPods, DS's and a movie blaring.

I was awakened by the sound of my two beasts trying to get to the front door because the doorbell was ringing. One of the young men who stayed the night and failed to tell me that he would be picked up 'a little early' in the morning....7 AM to be exact. So I stumbled to the door to greet a mother I have never meet in my adorable fleece penguin robe...so much for first impressions. I knew there was no going back after that so I dressed and started breakfast. thank goodness I always overcook....those boys (only 7 left now) went through 34 sausage links, 28 pancakes, a gallon of milk and some other juices!

Once feed they decided that they just had to play football in the snow...sorry neighbors, I did manage to keep them in until 9 AM. I am amazed at the teenage body...I wold have had on hat, gloves, scarf, tights under my jeans, turtleneck and sweater....they had on t-shirts & hoodies...crazy boys! Of course they wanted a fire after 45 minutes of outside time....a fire that they sat in front of for a total of 9 minutes, yes I counted. Oh, well...I enjoyed it.

10 Am rolled around and all remaining parents seemed to arrive at the same time...so for about 15 minutes we had doorbells ringing, dogs barking, boys running from one side of the house to the other gathering things and parents trying to chat. I think they had a wonderful time!

But that is not where the celebrating ended...after a little rest, we took him for his birthday lunch. He wanted to go to Cheesecake Factory. We enjoyed a great meal and family time. The waitress brought his dessert with a chorus of Happy Birthday accompanied by several others of the wait staff. We then went to get his final present...new shoes. Yes, my son likes clothes and shoes. We had to go to a skate store to get them, but they were the ones he has been coveting....wild colored high tops by some skate company. Now the day was complete.

It's beginning to look like Christmas....I wish!

Well, December 1st rolled around and I had all these grand plans to have all my decorations up, packages ready to mail, newsletter written & cards signed.....NOT! It all went downhill after my beautiful tree would not completely light up. I bought this beautiful champagne tree for all our military decorations and I decided I would put it up first. I fluffed the branches, connected the corns and plugged it in....half of the upper portion would not light. I was sick over it...this was a brand new tree, only used one season. Well, after a quick check and no resolve I decided to set it aside and move to something else.....lights for outside. ARGHHHHH! Only 3 out of 10 sets of lights were working, my cute penguins were only half lighting up and my candy can markers had been partially crushed due to improper packing. Ok, my Christmas cheer was quickly evaporating. So, again, I decided to put it aside...everything would look better the next day. Because I had spent so much time on the decorations, dinner was not ready or even thought of. I went to pick up a pizza....imagine my surprise when I returned home to find all 20+ Rubbermaid's and boxes of decorations piled all over my family room.

This is not how I work...I like to do one box at a time, putting away the empty boxes as I go...I quickly pushed down the complaints that rose to my lips when I saw how proud my husband was that he had 'helped me'. (Deep Sigh) I decided to deal with it all...half lite trees, inoperative lights, crushed candy canes & mountains of Rubbermaid's... tomorrow; and I watched Glee.

Oh, did I mention that I am trying a new eating plan with my sister & it is very low in carbs? Yeah, so now emotional eating because carrots just don't help when you are feeling this way.

I wish I could say that I awoke the next day ready to conquer it all,but I didn't. No, I awoke to an even worse feeling of being overtaken by the evil Christmas decorations and the need for escape, so...I went to craft with a girlfriend. I was hoping some creative time would help dissolve the growing feeling of being overwhelmed and motivate me to conquer the mess in my family room. We went to a local store for a make and take. We made the cute card to the left...the Santa can move around the clock & the clock hands can move. It is an easel card...cute.

After a little bit of girl talk, creative time and lunch I did return feeling a little more confident in my ability to win this battle over the Christmas decorations. I am happy to report that the tree is fixed, most of the Rubbermaid's are unpacked and back in their proper places, outside lights are hung, and two of the 4 penguins are working. I only have to repair the candy canes and try to find the problem with the other two penguins. Now I am not saying all my decorating is done...I still have a major banister to wrap, chandeliers to drape, another tree to put up and decorate, etc....but I am on my way and in control:)

Keep it simple

"Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated" ~ Confucius

While DH and DS were gone for 3 days and I had all these grand plans of the things I was going to get done....didn't happen. I did get a lot done, but I really think my list was a little over ambitious, so I am re thinking....

My goal this holiday is to keep things simple so I can enjoy the holiday. I always go overboard with decoration, parties, presents, cards, etc. This year I am going to try to keep everything on the simper side.

I scaled my gift list back and I am almost done with it. I have a few gifts left to get for family, but basically I am done. I ordered quite a bit online to avoid the shopping in the store experience...people & overspending avoided. I even have some of the gifts being wrapped and directly delivered:)

Cards...going to refine the list and use the cards I have in my stash. I mean really, i do swaps all the time & have dozens of holiday and winter themed cards so, why make a whole new set? to stress myself out? I will do the newsletter like I did last yer....a year in pictures. So much easier than trying to write something on each of us and make it interesting.

Parties...well I can't move Jarek's birthday so we will have two parties in December...his sleepover and our Annual Open House. John WILL be helping with the sleepover. he suggested they needed homemade french fries with their hot dogs, so guess who will manning the fryer? You got it - John!

Housewarming...well I have learned a couple of things after doing these for several years.
First, anything tastes good covered in chocolate...bring on the chocolate fountain! Simple prep and easy to watch during the party.
Second, if you only have one non-alcoholic beverage the children will drink it and be happy. Where's the punch bowl?
Finally, it does not really matter if the treats are homemade or store bought, people are just not that observant when it comes to sugar, so....why work for days making beautiful desserts? Cookies, brownies and mini cupcakes are perfect...no utensils required and easy to bake ahead of time.
If I follow these thins I can then focus on my guests and supervising the gingerbread house building. Anyone know an easy way to remove dried royal frosting from table tops? That stuff is like cement when it dries!

Decorating...I am going to actually go through my decorations as I unpack them and only put out the ones I love. I may be giving some away, because as I sit here I can think of several things in the boxes that we never put out. They need a new home.

Hopefully this simpler way will give me a chance to enjoy the holiday instead of stressing and running around like a chicken right up to Christmas day.

Now for swaps...did these last night...














These are for a Cricut Cut swap....

I really like the "Key to my Heart" set, I already have a layout in mind. the cuts are from the Sentiments cartridge. I left them a little plain so the recipient can alter them to their layout....ink, glitter, etc.

The fleur de lis are from the home Accents cartridge...this is one of my favorite shapes. I really love the glitter paper I used, it is a champagne color.

Can't wait to see what the others do.