The Countdown continues

Oh my gosh, this month is just flying by, Christmas is coming closer and closer. At least I am almost done decorating (I know, it's about time) Today our tree is supposed to go up, my neighbor got me one and it's lying on the porch until he comes over and puts it up. the last 2 years the tree toppled over so I told him we better tie it to something to start out with :)

Here are pages 11 and 12

I thought I was doing really good, now I am behind again. That is because I made some other pages, but I get bored doing the same thing every day. Here is what I came up with

This is my daughter's fault. she came up with the idea and dug out all her American Girl hats. He is such a good dog, he just let my other DD hold her and put all this stuff on him. The title comes from the fact that he is a boy...

I had to use that photo one more time, he is just too cute. I fixed it up in Lightroom (great, great program) to make it look desaturated. I love the whole look, it is so different. this is vinnie's stuff, I really like this template.

this one if for Roben-Marie at Paperbag Studios. You should really hop over there and check her out, she has some neat freebies too. Plus some stuff is on sale. I really like it.

I was just thinking that these are not a lot of pages, but I just posted on Friday, so it's only been a few days. Saturday was a fun day. We slept in and then hubby suggested we go out for breakfast to Eat n Park. Of course the kids jumped out of bed for this one. Then I told them we would skip Karate that morning. My middle DD wanted to know who abducted her mother and replaced her with me :) They are not used to me ever skipping Karate. It was great!!! No stress! Then in the evening we had dinner with his office staff and that was very pleasant too, albeit very fattening. I was sure I would gain several pounds, but it's less than 2. I can deal with that.

Designer digitals is having this Christmas sale, where every day they put stuff on sale and add a freebie. I am going to the poorhouse if that doesn't end soon. I just can't resist buying their stuff!. Love it. Okay, I have to run and pick up the kids at school. Will post soon! Get my credits here

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

at least on my pages for my December book :) I am really trying to catch up, but it seems like I am always a bit behind. Here are pages 7 and 8

and 9 and 10

I put in a picture of my new freezer although that happened a few days earlier, but what the heck. There are my bags of pellets, that was a job and a half, but sure worth it (I hope)

I love the picture of my Nativity set, I added some snow to it today and promptly dropped one of the kings which broke into a million pieces, I can't glue it together anymore. I can't believe i did that! I still am not done decorating, my tree is on my porch, waiting to be put up. My neighbor always goes to cut his and brings one back for me. I love that, he also puts it up for me. Of course the last couple of years the whole tree fell over, decorations and all! We had to tie it to the radiator!

Here are a couple more pages I did

I made the tree out of ribbon pieces, that was fun!

this was with one of Vinnie's templates, very simple, but I like it. I love to see flowers right now, reminds me of summer

this big guy is our piano teacher's dog, or I should say one of them (she has 2). I am trying to make a few pages for the album we gave her last Christmas. I know she would love that.

That's it for the pages. Today we had snow again. Yesterday it rained and this morning I woke up and everything was white. What a crazy month! It was great not to have to go anywhere today except for piano in the evening. Still I am not done decorating. I got a little bit done but there is a lot more to do. Oh well, Christmas will get here no matter what. Okay, have a good night everybody

The cat is out of the bag

so to speak. Paperbag Studios is officially open! That is the other store I am designing for and she really has some nice stuff! My friend Jeanne introduced me to her and I must say she is really sweet and easy going. Now I can finally show you the pages I created with her kits

This is actually the latest one I made, using the Holiday Passion Kit. I just love that tree and the flakes.

My sweet middle child! I used the JuJu kit here, no mixing with anything else

this picture just cracks me up. We are in China here, just about 13 years ago. Look at his hair :) We are picking up our oldest and are having lunch at a Pizza Hut! What a time we had! Anyway, I used the Juju Kit here too

this was one of the earlier pages I did, I used Silent Nectar, love the butterflies, I recolored some a little.

I love this one, it's Jeanne's favorite too. It is so different from my usual style, but I really like the way it turned out. The kit is called Take a Chance

Last but not least, that one is the first one I created for her, using the Silent Nectar Kit. I just love that leaf and the twig, they look so real.

I am really trying to keep up with the daily pages at DD, I am a little behind though. christmas seems to want to get into the way of my creativity here :) Let's see, here are pages 3 and 4

followed by 5 and 6

I can't even believe how many I have to make up already! I will do it, even if it kills me! I don't know where I will find the time, I am not even done with my shopping or decorating! Leaving comments in the galleries is taking up so much time, it's not even funny. It almost seems like that's all I do anymore! Stop being so darn creative people!!!

This was for Saturday Scraplift at DD, DS falling asleep with his DS in his hands, too cute!

Still him, this one was for the template challenge. I kind of like it, it wasn't too popular in the gallery, who knows why. Oh yeah, I forgot, I got my new Lightroom!!! I love it, I can't even tell you how much you can change your photos with it. I am still fiddling with it, so I am no expert, but it sure is a lot of fun!

Yesterday we received 1 ton of pellets for our stove, so we had to push them all through a little basement window and stack them in the basement. 50 bag at 40 lbs each.

I was surprised it didn't take longer than it did. I could sure feel my arm muscles after that It doesn't look like it here, but there were a lot!

Okay, time to brush my teeth and had out to Karate. Talk to you all soon. Oh yeah, as usual credits for the other LOs can all be found here

New Kit is out

Well, it wasn't supposed to happen until tomorrow, but somehow Catscrap released Vinnie's new kit and people bought it. My poor friend Jeanne was one of them and I went and asked her if she could hide it for a while yet, so she deleted it in the gallery and on her blog. But of course other people posted LOs, so Vinnie didn't have a choice but to release it early. I am so sorry Jeanne! Anyway, here is the page I had made with it some weeks ago waiting for the release date

I just love that snowglobe. Here is a link to Jeanne's gorgeous page, leave her some love, she deserves it! It is really pretty with that red door!

Now that December has started, I committed to a page a day for the month. I really like the idea, although I find it difficult to find things to put on the pages, every day is just as mundane as the next, in other words, not much is happening out of the ordinary :) But, I was off to a pretty good start, lets see if I can keep it up. Here are pages one and two

I really like Jessica's template for this, it is versatile and pretty.

The CT challenge at DD is over and I didn't make it (sob) Not that I expected it, but a girl can dream, right? Seriously, Erin (the girl who won) is really awesome, plus there were a few more girls who are a lot better than me, so there really wasn't a chance in you know what, but it was fun participating anyway!!!

Let's see, what else I made

I used one of Vinnie's new templates for this one, it's kind of graphic looking, but I like it.

This was for a challenge at Catscrap, we were to create a page with festive material, using a non festive photo.

This one was the opposite, using a festive photo with non festive material. I really don't like this one that much, but oh well.

this is my DD and her precious little feet! I love this page!!!

My cute little puppy, who is way too spoiled! Another challenge, this one at DD (journaling challenge with a freebie, do you ever check them? They have great freebies)

Another one of Vinnie's templates, so easy to work with.

and last but not least, another one of the DD challenges. It consists of 3 actions for the different colors and I thought they would reflect different moods, so I used them for my DD's teenage phases. That was kind of fun. I hope you are not too bored with all of this! As always, all the credits can be found here. You are allowed to leave me some love too :)

I just got my new freezer yesterday! another expenditure, but I got so fed up with that old monster sitting in my basement, I couldn't stand it anymore. That thing came with the house when we bought it in '85 and who know how long the people before us had it. It wasn't frost free and the door would pop open, so we had a bucket in front of it :) How many times did that stupid thing defrost on me and I had to throw all that food away. Now, no more ice buildup! Yeah! I love my new freezer. I am certainly contributing to the salvation of our economy this month! (and here is another idea for a LO)

Okay, I better get moving here, maybe I'll have more later. Have a wonderful and productive day everybody!

Another week

has come and gone and I haven't sat down once to write on my blog. What's up with that? Well, Monday I went and got a new battery, so I am back in business again. My tire (with the slow leak) just needed reglued around the rim, so that was no big deal. The week after that just flew by, it seems all the weeks are doing that anymore. Now it's going to be even worse with Christmas coming and parties everywhere, school events, shopping to be done, decorating etc etc. I am sweating just thinking about it! I haven't even started shopping yet, no that's not true, I just ordered a couple of things for the girls. Fortunately I don't have too many people to shop for.

Today we stopped at Sears and ordered a new freezer. Yes, I know, I had to spend more money.... My freezer came with the house and who knows how long is has been here. We bought this place in 1986, so that is a long time already. It is probably an antique, not self-defrosting, I hate it. There is so much ice built up in there, I can't even see what's on the top 4 shelves! Anyway, my new one will be getting here on Wednesday, it's a beauty!

For December I am planning on doing a page a day, I would really like to try to keep up with that. I have seen a few examples of what other people have done and I love it! Keep your fingers crossed!

Okay, here are a few pages I have done this week, some I can't show yet, but pretty soon!

I really had fun doing the one with the tree. I saw that quote in a catalogue as a plaque and loved it. so I started with that and just got carried away, creating a whole fantasy scene. The idea for the one with Michael jumping was from an ad in National Geographics. That photo was just jumping off the page and I had to fiddle with it until it worked. It wasn't as easy as I thought it would be, but in the end I got it!

Boy I am loving these days off. Nowhere to go, no Karate, it was great. A couple more days of peace and then the hussle will start! Hopefully I will still have time to create, that is my daily fix :) Talk to you all soon

Oh yeah, credits as usual here. thanks for taking a peek!

Another Saturday

That pretty much says it all, just another Saturday, LOL. The week is over again, the kids are off for the weekend. We just had Karate in the morning and then went to visit our friends in Altoona. We had a good time if you ignore the fact that my battery died just as we were leaving Sam's. They were closing and we ran over to Walmart, where the tire center was just shutting it's doors. The girl there was so friendly and gave us the charger, so we were saved! If we had gotten out just 3 minutes later we would have been stranded, well at least until AAA could have gotten there. the whole way home I heard this mumble in the back of the car and I just assumed the kids were playing a game or watching a movie. When we got home, Rachel told me that they prayed the whole time, the rosary and more. We were on the road for an hour! Sometimes they can really make you proud! They were so worried that the car would simply stop and we would be stranded, LOL. My battery must not hold the charge anymore. Another thing to take care of, it just never ends. My tire has a slow leak so I have to have that fixed on Monday, plus I need an oilchange and inspection. Cars are a pain!
It has really gotten cold here, only in the 20s today. That stove is sure getting a workout, but we love it!
Yesterday I received an email about having a LO posted at GSO. that was a first for me and quite a thrill! I don't know how they pick the pages they post. They go through a whole bunch of galleries and just pick some. How cool! I didn't think my page was that great!
Today I received my VA book in the mail, it really looks nice. I picked the 8x8 this time and it really is a nice size. I found a couple of things I don't like, the stamp on the front is still blue, I didn't get it changed and there is a page where the writing is too light, I must not have changed that either. I will check with them, but I doubt that they will fix that. It still looks great. I noticed that 3 other people have ordered my book, which I thought was really weird! What are they going to do with my vacation book? Some pages are kind of nice just per se, but it really is a private book. So strange!
Well, here come the pages as usual, I bet you couldn't wait :) you can find the credits here
Same as always!

Vinnie at Catscrap

Something is wrong with Vinnie's website (PixelCanvas), as you have probably noticed by now. There is some Virus attack going on and the poor girl had to close the site for maintenance, which seems to take forever. In the meantime she has accepted an offer by Dagmar at Catscrap to sell her products there. I think I already mentioned that. It doesn't really change much for us girls, we just upload our pages there and hopefully her site will reopen soon. In the meantime you can find her stuff at Catscrap and she is coming up with some really cute new stuff! Here is a page I made for her store, which is now posted on her blog, so it's probably okay for me to post it here  too.

This was meant as an introduction of her CT members. Here is a list of the credits

PixelCanvas
She's a doll kit (background, hearts)
Today wordart from Oct. 8 word challenge
Wonderland girls Kit (spray)

fonts
Century Gothic
Impact
Lewis Orton Effect action

Only because I haven't posted this anyplace yet!

It has really gotten cold here, we had our first snow, way too early! I can't believe we will have to face at least 4 months of this now. The older I get, the more I would like to move south, LOL. Here is a page I just finished with pictures from this morning. Most of the snow on the roads is gone, but it is starting up again and we are expecting a few inches overnight. Most activities have been cancelled for tonight, it's nice to be able to stay in for a change, no running around, yeah!

Yesterday I received an email from Shutterfly telling me that my Virginia book is going to be featured! I was so thrilled, this is such an honor! All the work, this really makes it worth it, aside from the fact that it is our book and we will love it! (I hope)

I was also chosen as Artist of the month at Designer Digitals and I received $20 to spend. It sure didn't take me long to spend that.... You can find my face on the home page if you scroll down. That was quite a thrill too. I have all this good stuff happen lately, maybe that's supposed to make up for the stupid stock market crashing, LOL. Well, here are some more pages I didn't post yet.

All the credits can be found at Designer Digitals, that is my main gallery. I love those pictures I found in my stash and scanned in. It is hard to even remember the kids ever being that little. They were so darn cute!!! I have to look upstairs, I must have a ton of pictures from before digital that I have to scan in yet. I am thinking about ordering Lightroom. So many people use it to fix their photos, it must offer more than Photoshop. I can get it at a pretty good price, so I might just get it. Okay, time to make dinner!