Merry Christmas

We had a very merry Christmas and I hope you did too!  :)

My friend Jennifer bought me a Wilton Cookie Press!  Love it!  Here are some cookies I made with it.

My brother Earl bought me a fondue set and I put it to good use today!  We made chocolate dipped strawberries, dipped some of the cookies and made chocolate Santas.

Connor's favorite gift this year had to be the camera.  He has already drained the first set of batteries. lol  However the telescope, Operation and the helicopter were big hits as well.

Some more tomorrow....  Including some of the day from Connor's perspective!  Hope everyone is having a very Merry Christmas!  :)

Its been cold....

Last week it felt like Spring but this week the temps have dropped dramatically and there is white stuff everywhere!  Connor was dying to go out and build Frosty but at -10C, it just didnt seem like a good idea.  All ready for Christmas now.  Just sitting back and waiting for it to come.  Today I spent a few hours at my parents house decorating with my father.  Since my mother is a Jehovah Witness she left us to it and went shopping.  Its funny because she left to buy garbage bags and lemon juice and came back without either.  lol

My father and I searched the island for a new Tim Horton's mug and it took forever to find one.  I found one at a Tims that said there was no left.  However, I went around and checked the displays and just happened to find one.  Go me.  I really like this years cup and am glad I have one now.  :)  My Dad bought it for me.  So nice of him!

(I borrowed their site banner) 

Isnt it nice though?  I thought so.  I imagine a LOT of people will be getting them as gifts this year.  We have one from last year as well but this year is a limited edition.  Not that I knew that until I bought it and saw the bottom of it.  I have number 008.  lol  I wonder how many they made....

Now I am going to make myself some tea, in my new cup of course, and read my book.  I bought The Reader last night and am enjoying it.  They have made this into a movie with Kate Winslet as well.  Cannot wait to see it.  I love it when they turn books into movies.  They are never as good but always entertaining.  I love my books.  Its one thing about Christmas, everyone buys me books.  LOVE THAT!  :)  Hope you had a nice weekend.  Thanks for stopping by!

They are SNOW cute!

LOL Oh I kill me. ;)  Ok, so I made the cookies I mentioned in yesterday's post.  SUPER EASY and fun!  Again, here is the blog where I found the original cookies and how to make them!  It's called Chic Cookies!   I do believe hers are much better then mine but I still think I did a pretty good job.  Ya know, considering that this is my first ever attempt at decorating cookies.  What do you think?

I am going to bring them to the school in the morning.  Since I wont have time to do anything tomorrow.  I made them early.  I thought the kids would enjoy a little early treat because they will be getting lots at the party on Thursday anyway.  :)

My mother asked me to create a book of my brother's drawings and I finished that today.  I was rather happy about getting it done, especially when I opened my inbox and found an offer from Artscow for 12 free books (you just pay shipping).  :)  What?  You want the coupon code?  Ok.  Coupon Code is FREE12XBOOKS.  There is also an offer for calendars, CRSD699, $6.99 per calendar with free shipping. Cant beat that!  If only I had this code a few weeks ago.  Sigh....

So when I finished my mother's book, I finished mine as well.  I made this layout for my cover.  It's a old kit by Angie Miner, which is no longer available, Waiting for Santa.

I also made another layout which I will be sharing next month.  :)  I am rather fond of it though.  Thats it for now.  I have to go and finish my supper dishes.  Seems I am getting farther and farther behind on my housework these days.  Hope everyone is having a good week!  Tonight is The Biggest Loser FINALE!  Whoot whoot!  Get watching!  I HOPE MICHELLE WINS!  I like her best.  :)

Done and Done!

I am done of my Christmas shopping!  YAY!  Everything is bought, wrapped and under the tree.  I am so excited. I find that lately people are getting rather...ummm...pushy.  That is putting it nicely.  ;)  So I am happy that I dont have to go back into the mobs of people!  :)  I even managed to find the gifts that everyone wanted.  Today Connor and I tried to take some winter photos but lets face it, it didnt happen.  There is no snow, its plus 7C and Connor has a cold.  SOooooo things didnt go too well.  The camera battery died, it was windy, we used fake snow and Connor was dripping and sneezing and coughing through the whole thing.  We gave up but I got one shot that I really like.

Tomorrow I will spend the day making cookies for Connor's class because I will not have time on Wednesday.  Its hard to believe that HoHo's arrival will soon be here.  I am not completely in the spirit but I am SLOWLY getting there.  These are the cookies that I am going to be making.  I am SO HAPPY that I stumbled across these.  You seriously have to check out this woman's cookie collection.  They are amazing!  After the holidays I am going to see about purchasing her book.  Not that I could ever make half of her creations.  lol  I can try though!

Havent been scrapping much....  These pictures are from Connor's school Christmas concert. He had so much fun and was so excited to take part.  He practiced his songs daily and was constantly asking how many more sleeps until the concert.  The morning of, he woke me at 6am screaming, do you know what today is?  I quickly replied, Wednesday.  No!  ITS CHRISTMAS CONCERT DAY!  YAY!  YIPPEE!!  WAHOO!!  lol  We had a nice time.  The school choir was REALLY good this year.  We all enjoyed ourselves.

Hope you are having a fantastic Monday!

Did you know...

That you can create your very own design for a Kleenex box?  I discovered this this morning and was so very excited.  I immediately set to work at creating a box, threw it in my shopping cart and was HORRIFIED to discover that it would cost me $20US dollars to ship it.  Ummm yeah, I am totally willing to pay $25US dollars for a box of Kleenex.  Totally.  OR NOT!  How in the world could I justify spending over $30 dollars on a box of tissue to blow our noses with??  Sure, its a great idea and totally unique but COME ON, the shipping is a tad much folks.  That and its not even guaranteed to be here before Christmas.  So I am paying $30 dollars and waiting what?  Three or more weeks?  HA!  Thats a good one.  I have no idea why it is that one of my American friends can order something online, it costs them 5 bucks to ship and they get it within the week.  I order something online, it costs FOUR TIMES the amount of the actual product and it takes anywhere up to 7 weeks to get.  So baffled...

Anyway, here is my would be tissue box.  I thought it was rather comical.  lol

The front                                    The back

 

A little something I dont think I mentioned here.  I have taken up running.  Ok, more like walk/running.  ;)  Point is, this week I have been out four times.  Three times I did this FABULOUS podcast by a man named Robert Ullrey who created them for people who are looking for a good way to start running.  Basically the idea is to go from couch potato to 5k in nine weeks, or at least that is what they tell me.  I completed Week 1 and on Friday will start Week 2.  Today I walked Connor to school and then ran the entire way home.  I was so proud of myself.  Took me about 4 minutes running.  :)  I know that doesnt seem like much, but to me, it is.  Progress baby, progress.

Tonight is Connor's Christmas concert and I am so happy for him.  He has been literally counting the sleeps until he can get on stage and sing his precious little heart out.  The kid thinks he is a star.  Literally, he thinks he is famous and waits for the paparazzi to jump out at him from behind every bush.  Why?  Because folks, you can buy him at Walmart.  Ever since I was published in DSM (his picture has been in three different projects) he thinks he is one hot specimen!  lol  Its rather cute actually.  I should do a layout....

Have a good day!

Busy, busy, busy!

Holidays are always a source of true joy and happiness in my life and you know what else?  Total chaos, stress and total bursts of random impatience!  Dont believe me?  Ask Connor.  Just last night I threatened to duct tape him to the chair if he didnt stop getting up during supper.  He didnt believe me so I went as far as taking the tape out of the drawer and placing it on the table next to his dish.  He didnt get up any more.  Mind you he also started crying telling me how mean I was and what if he needed to pee.  I know people will think I am mean but man, it was funny.  Poor little guy.  I asked him if he REALLY thought I would tape him to the chair and not let him pee, he said no Mommy.  See?  Not a bad person completely!  hehehehe  Anyway, he finished eating so my threat worked.  ;)

I have been doing some handmade projects this week.  I made this cute flower which was inspired by a paper wreath I seen on this blog, which I just found and completely adore.

 

I got this new ornament in the mail this week and I was so excited to put it on the tree.  This picture was taken by my Dad at my brother's wedding this summer.  We decorated last night against my will.  I had no desire this year but Connor was getting antsy so Sean put up the tree.  Connor decorated it and I set the table for Christmas.  I suppose tonight I will put up the garlands and whatnot... may be....  Hoping to get some crafty time in.  Connor used to love craft corner with me but lately he has been more inclined to play in his room or watch TV.  Not in my house baby!  lol  My house, you do something creative EVERY DAY whether you like it or not. ;)

 

Last night was my weekly Inspired by Art challenge chat!  Always so much fun.  Last night I posted a new sketch for December.  If you would like to take part, PLEASE DO SO!  The thread with all the information you need is here!

Here is the sketch:

Here is the page I scrapped using it!

 

Another few pages that I have been playing with in the last few days, all credits can be found with their original uploads at the Guild.

 

Thats all for now.  Its really cold out today and their is snow on the ground.  I am looking forward to walking up to the school to grab Connor, coming home and having some hot chocolate with him.  Then I am thinking I can convince him to take some pictures outside with me.  :)  I need something new to scrap, may be get my inspiration flowing again.  Happy scrapping everyone!

Stuck

Thats how I feel lately.  It seems as though everything is a struggle and I am not sure why.  My creativity is especially suffering and I am not sure why.  I WANT to do stuff, I WANT to be creative, I WANT to be productive but it just seems a battle.  I have been fighting this battle with all my heart though and am hoping things will soon come back to me.  Normally I would tell myself to just let go and not worry, that things would come back but I tried that and it didnt work this time.  I guess all I can do is try and wait.  Until then, here are some of the things I have been working on.

Scrapbooking

Some photos I took lately that I enjoy...

Connor making his crazy face which makes me laugh no matter what!

Rain drops falling off of a branch at my parents house.  Saw this when we took Shalako out for his morning pee.

It was a bright, sunny day and I was crocheting...

I bought this necklace from Buttonique and I just adore it.

Sean took this one of me wearing it. 

Shalako, the worst dog ever to babysit.  My parents have him spoiled beyond belief.

Hope everyone has a wonderful day.  :)

Beautiful Day

Today is a beautiful day!  A few nights ago I looked out my window and nearly fell over when I saw the tiny white flakes falling from the sky but thankfully none of them stuck around.  While I was walking Connor to school this morning I thought about my day and how I was going to schedule it.  So many things to do but yet I felt like I wanted to do nothing.  SO what do I do when I am feeling energetic but have no inspiration?  I roam through the various blogs I have bookmarked over the years.  One lady, Amanda, that I stumbled upon a few months ago is truly inspirational.  She sews, she cooks, she knits, she recycles, so much more, she has three kiddies and another one on the way.  She is a published author and lives a nice pure life.  I am always inspired by her beautiful attitude, her crafts, her sweet photos and her kind and generous personality.  Today when I went to her blog she had a nice piece about sewing hats for newborns in Haiti.  I thought, I CAN DO THAT!  I immediately downloaded the pattern and set about finding some material to use.  So I went through Connor's drawers looking for clothes that he had out grown.  I have come to the shocking realization that 99% of his clothing has silk screening on it!  I found only two shirts that I can use.  I then proceeded to pick up the phone and called my mother and Connor's step-mother to ask for help.  Hopefully I will be able to get more hats made then just two.  :)  Please check this out, I think its such a good cause.

Mama to Mama

I should also mention that she blogs here!  Just in case anyone wants to check her out!  These are the two shirts that I found that I can use, I thought it was cute that they just happened to match.  :)  I will be heading to my mothers in the next few days because I do not believe that my machine will be able to handle this little project.

Currently I have a few scrap pages on the go which is odd for me, I usually finish one before I start another one.  I finished one this morning with my new Boy Wonder page kit, available at NDISB.com.

A little bit of perspective on this one.  I really enjoyed the first one I made so I wanted to do another one.  You will notice that my gallery is fairly empty of extractions and there is a reason for it, I cannot stand it!  Erasing all those pixels about drives me bonkers but it is definitely worth it in the end.  Well, I have some things to get finished before I head off to pick the wee one up at school.  I hope everyone has a good day and dont forget to stop by Mama to Mama to check things out!  Cheers!

What a Weekend!

Wow!  Was this not a fun weekend?  Hectic mind you!  We were busy busy busy with promotions, challenges and all the fun that comes with the first of the month which was even better because it happened to fall on National Digital Scrapbook Day!  :)  The new Guild kit is out!  I love this one so much.  Its perfect for all my Connor pages.  First though, speaking of Connor, we had so much fun going out for Halloween this year.  Connor went as Bumble Bee the Transformer and he only started complaining about wanting to go home at the third house this year, not the first like last year.  Kids these days just dont have the same enthusiasm for the day as we did.  We went ALL DAY and as hard and as fast as we could because we knew that those were the only treats we would be getting until Christmas or later.  lol  These days kids have so much they just take everything for granted.  I suppose my generation did a little bit as well but I grew up in a household with three older brothers and if you wanted something, you had  to fight to get it.  :)

On to the digi goodness that is November....for more information about becoming a Guild Member please go here!  Myself, Debb Cozzi and Christine Haskell threw this gem of a kit together, I hope everyone enjoys it as much as we do!

This month I was in charge of the alpha and I really like it.  Its classic and will work for so many different types of layouts but I thought it was just perfect for the feeling in this kit.  I also threw together a template and two Ready Made Pages tm, I JUST COULDNT STOP!  lol  Hope you like.

Some of my layouts using this kit, there will be MANY more to come in the future.

I also used my new word art set in this one, Cherish, available at NDISB.com.

This is my Dad, aint he a cutie?  :)

One more thing before I head off!  This month's Photography Challenge at the Guild is up and running!  Please join us!  You never know, you just might learn something! ;)  (Yes, I totally stole that from Robert Munsch!)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Its here!  Its here!  Connor was so excited this morning when we woke!  Halloween is finally here and will be over before you can blink.  No doubt within a few hours every child with be in a sugar induced stupor and walking into walls.  Halloween is a fun time as long as you follow all the safety rules! 

Rule #1 Give Mom all Coffee Crisp and Kit Kat bars. (The list used to be longer so dont complain)

Rule #2 Do not ask Mom if we can go to EVERY house in the world 300 times throughout the night because we are NOT going to so STOP ASKING.  :)

Rule # 3 Make sure you ask for treats for Mom and Dad too.  Make sure NOT to tell the people we told you this or we will be tsked.  (Hey, we are the ones doing all the heavy lifting!!)

Yup, thats it!  Oh and the usual wear bright colors, carry a light, no strangers, throw away anything with gunk in it, make sure you can see and breath in your costume, no crossing back and forth on the street, stay close, listen, give Mom all the Coffee Crisp bars, what?  I mentioned that already?  Oops, my bad.  hehehe  ;)

 

Connor is being Bumble Bee the Transformer.  So when people ask him what he is being he says I am being Bumble Bee.  People always respond with "Ahhh how sweet, he is being a bumble bee."  Then I have to speak up and say "no not a bumble bee, Bumble Bee the Transformer."  He says people should just KNOW THAT because how many little boys would want to be a REAL bumble bee for Halloween, they arent COOL!  Right-O.  My Frankenbucket was a hit with Connor's teacher, she thought it was cute.  :)  So we are all ready for the hustle and bustle of the night.  Connor's Dad is even making a route plan!!  lol  It should really help because its just the two of us taking Connor tonight and we both forget where we are suppose to go.  :)  So we are ready to PAR-TAY!

Speaking of parties!! This weekend is going to be the busiest weekend of digital scrapbooking history!  Saturday is (Inter)National Digital Scrapbooking day which is bringing on parties, challenges, giveaways, challenges, chats, crops, you name it, its happening!  Also, its the first of the month so we are getting the Guild kit ready and the Notebook is coming out this week!  I love this months kit and I KNOW everyone else will as well!!  AND last but certainly not least, Natural Designs is having a BIRTHDAY!  Its our 3rd birthday and we are celebrating BIG TIME!!  Including a STOREWIDE 50% off sale!!! How awesome is THAT!!  I have three new products in the store today!!!  All 50% off!!  The kit is only $2.50 and comes with 8 papers and over 20 elements!!  WHAT A DEAL!  The word art is also brand new and is on sale this weekend for only ONE DOLLAR!!!  :)  Check them out!

Boy Wonder Page Kit

My gorgeous son who inspired this kit, Connor.

Some new deluxe word art for you loved one pages!

Cherish Word Art

Layout by Sayo, aka bunnynose

Wonderful You Word Art

 

I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend and a very happy, safe Halloween!  :) Thanks for stopping by!