Christmas Eve

I have another Christmas layout to show you today. Like I said, I am almost finished my 2014 album and have a few festive layouts to do before I can put it all together....

We always get dressed up on Christmas Eve when we go to my parents and I simply adore these pictures of the girls in front of the Christmas tree.

I used paper from the So This is Christmas line by Carta Bella. This paper is absolutely gorgeous; I especially love the weight....it just feels like really good quality paper.

I used to shy away from using papers where there were designs printed in the corners, like this one, because I was not sure how to work with them. But after a lengthy discussion with the owner of my local scrapbook store, I was encouraged to give them a try. This is my second layout using this type of paper and you know what, I really like how it works with my clean and simple style.

There is one more Christmas layout lying on my table, just waiting to be finished up....stay tuned.

Hope you are getting some scrapping done yourself. As always, thanks so much for reading.

These are a Few of My Favorite Things:

Coffee

An unscheduled day

A freshly weeded garden

Laundry hanging on the line

The first sleep in a changed bed

Sunny mornings

Baking muffins

Candles

Fridays

The smell of lavender

Using fresh herbs from the garden

Soup

Fresh bread

No spend days

Crocheting while sitting on the deck

Organizing my yarn

Browsing thrift stores

Decluttering

Trying new recipes

Waking up without an alarm

Finding a good deal

Flowers

Polka dots

Autumn leaves

Pants that fit

17/52

"A portrait of my girls, once a week, every week, in 2015."

Craft time at the kitchen table includes drawing, coloring, and singing at the top of your lungs. It is loud, but a good loud. You are so happy to be together.

Joining in with Jodi for the 52 Week Project.

Very Early Spring Garden

We had some incredible weather on the weekend – warm and sunny – so we took full advantage and did a little work in the garden.

Mostly clearing out the dead stuff and pruning.

It looks so much better.

The tulips are growing.

The daffodils are blooming.

And I can see some green shoots and buds on my hydrangeas. I am so excited to see these bloom. We planted them in early summer last year, missing their flowering, so I cannot wait for them to burst into color this spring.

As for the vegetable garden, the garlic I planted in the fall has shot up, and we did plant some spinach seeds on the weekend. It will be at least a month before we get any more plants in here....after all, this is Canada and we could very well still get frost.

I cannot remember ever being in the garden so early in the year....it feels really good to have a head start on things.

What also feels good is having sore legs from all the bending and reaching that I did.

Talking to Santa

We had absolutely gorgeous spring weather on the weekend....which makes me feel a little strange to be showing you a Christmas layout today. The thing is, I am nearly finished my 2014 album (I'm so up-to-date, not exactly sure how that happened!) and several of my final layouts will be from Christmas. Such is life as a scrapbooker - always a little behind the current season....but that is okay.

I used this latest sketch from The Memory Nest:

And created this layout about my girls' visit with Santa. They really talked the poor guy's ear off...it was quite hilarious to listen to.

I used paper from Imaginisce and embellishments from Simple Stories and Bella Blvd on this page. I have a tin where I keep all my Christmas themed papers and embellishments and I just rummaged through that, picking out what worked with my picture and with the sketch.

Being one page closer to finishing my 2014 album makes me very happy.

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out the work of the other Design Team members here.

16/52

"A portrait of my girls, once a week, every week, in 2015."

Outside in t-shirts, enjoying the sunshine and the warm breeze. Finally, spring has arrived. (What a dramatic difference compared to ten weeks ago)

Joining in with Jodi for the 52 Week Project.

Three Things

Three things that made me smile on the weekend.

A surprise gathering for my birthday. It was truly the last thing I was expecting and I was so happy.

Beautiful flowers (from my hubby) and a gorgeous red owl (from my Mom). The owl is intended as a garden ornament, but I am not certain I will be placing him outside in the dirt....he may find a home inside the house.

The tulips are coming. I look at the rest of the garden and am quite overwhelmed by all the work that needs to get done, but seeing these shoots pushing out of the dirt makes me smile.

Hope you had a great weekend full of smiles.

15/52

 

"A portrait of my girls, once a week, every week, in 2015."

Claire - You are now reading on your own. I love to listen to you as you whisper the words, sounding out the ones you don't know by sight. You are so proud of yourself, and we are so proud of you.

Bridget - You lost another tooth this week giving you a typical (and adorable) eight-year-old smile. Biting has become a bit of a challenge, yet somehow you manage.

Joining in with Jodi for the 52 Week Project.

Cross Stitch Necklace and Brooch

Up until a few months ago (when they ceased publication) I had a subscription to the US Edition of Mollie Makes. Oh I loved that magazine - the patterns, the profiles of craft shops (sometimes in cities that I have visited), the beautifully styled photographs - it was a monthly dose of creative and crafty inspiration that I really looked forward to. I was quite sad when I learned that it was coming to an end.

To finish out my subscription, I have been receiving the UK edition of the magazine, with the perk of a little craft kit included with each issue.

This past month's kit was for a cross stitch necklace and brooch.

It has been ages since I did any cross stitch - I used to be quite avid in this craft - so I thought I would give this a try. There were many templates to choose from in the magazine.

After settling on my designs I set to work and created this necklace and brooch.

It was a quick little make, a modern take on the old craft of cross stitch, and I quite like how it turned out.

Of all the Mollie Makes mini craft kits that I have - from my subscription and from the odd magazine I have purchased on its own - this is the first one that I have actually made. Maybe I should get going on some of the others...they seem the perfect thing for learning a new skill (I have one with embroidery, and embroidery is something I am interested in trying) or for dusting off an older skill and using it in a new way, like this kit.

Have you tried any new crafts or revisited some older ones lately? I'd love to hear about it.

Growing Up

Good Morning! I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend. 

I have another layout to share with you today, and this one is based on the latest sketch challenge over at The Memory Nest.

Here is the sketch:

And here is my page:

These are pictures are of my oldest daughter before she went to her first Brownies sleepover. She was so happy and excited to be going on this adventure and she had an incredible time with all her friends. To me the whole thing was a stark reminder that my little girl is growing up, but I refuse to be saddened (too much) by that; things are as they should be. 

I used papers and embellishments from the Life Documented line by Simple Stories for this layout. I bought this line on a complete whim at my local scrapbook store and I am really glad I did.

As always, the other ladies on the Design Team have created some great layouts based on this sketch. Be sure to check them out here. 

14/52

"A portrait of my girls, once a week, every week, in 2015."

The Easter Bunny came so we had an early morning egg hunt with you girls in your pajamas. Running about the house looking for plastic eggs made you two so happy; and the egg hunting continued throughout the day as you took turns setting up egg hunts for each other.

Joining in with Jodi for the 52 Week Project.

Huh?

I made this card in less than five minutes.

All the pieces just sort of came together.

The numbers are an entire sheet of rub-ons that I have had forever. I love the font but have never had the right project to use them on, that is until I had the brilliant idea to put them all on the front of this card.

The patterned papers are just scraps...that happened to coordinate perfectly with the numbers.

The “Huh?” journaling sprout is from Jillibean Soup. The perfect addition.

I think you could use this card for any occasion – birthday, congratulations, thank you, thinking of you – the lack of a traditional sentiment on the front really leaves it wide open.

What do you think?