December Daily, finished

Hey stampers!  I hope you had a wonderful day.  So many of you were in the snow and ice and I hope you stayed safe. 

I had a sick little girl home today.  Poor Grace was throwing up all night.  She was upset when I told her she would have to miss school today because then she wouldn't get another Perfect Attendance Award. 

So I stayed home today and disenfected things.  And cuddled and watched movies.  She is feeling a little better now but still weak.  So we'll see if she makes it to school tomorrow.  Must have been some weird stomach virus because nobody else at home got it. 

So tonight I wanted to show you the rest of the December Daily. 

Day 21

day 22

day 23

day 24

day 25

So there you have it.  I did it very differently this year and I think I like it better.  I'm not sure why I was trying to do all 2 page spreads. 

Next year I think I will buy one of those 1/2 binders.  The ones that hold 5.5 x 8.5 pieces of paper.  That way my pages can be in page protectors.  I don't think anything will happen to these since I used the Tombow Multi glue but I'd feel better if they were in page protectors.  You can buy those binders at any office supply store.  Also, that way I'll get 2 pages out of one sheet of cardstock.  This book was 6 x 8 and I could only get one page out of each sheet. 

Alrighty then.  I did get my Grandmother's book finished the other day.  I just need to take the pics of it.  So I'll be showing you that next. 

Thanks for stopping by. 

Blessings, b.

vacation is over

I love vacation.......but today I had to go  back to work.  Tomorrow the kiddos have to go back to school. 

Time goes by so fast.

I'm going to try and be quick tonight.  No blah, blah, blah from me.  

You're welcome.

I got the rest of the pics printed for the December Daily.  Here are a few more days for you.

Day 13

day 14

day 15

I know it seems hard to read here, but in person its fine.

day 16

day 17

day 18

day 19

This page is a little hard to read, even in person.

day 20

Okie dokie, thats it for today.  I'm pooped and ready for bed. 

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I hope everyone is staying safe in the snow and ice.  The weather reports show some scary stuff.  Just stay home if you can.  I'll be thinking of you.

Blessings, b.

back from the dead

Okay, I didn't really die.  For a few days there I just felt like I wanted to.  Especially when I'm laying there, coughing up a lung and a pile of tissues is threatening to overtake me, and the children are home on vacation.

"I'm bored." 

"What's for lunch?" 

"Mom, the computer is doing something weird." 

"Where is my fill in the blank ?"  etc...............

UGH!  I love my kids.

Now, I did get to read a few books.  I reread the last Harry Potter.  I wanted to go see the movie but haven't quite made that yet.  And I read the first 3 Anne of Green Gable books.  I've never read them before.  I loved them!  Have you read them?  (I've been trying to read more of the classics this past year.)

I love reading about that time period.  Things were so much simpler then and Anne has such a wonderful outlook on life.  She makes the best out of everything.  I'm trying to be more like that. 

Things are very uncertain for me job-wise for the next school year and so I've been trying to make the best of everything.  Trying to see what opportunities are available, what other paths I can go down........trying to be somewhat excited for changes to happen instead of dreading them.  I have a hard time with change. 

But you know, when you're laying on the couch, (for more than 10 minutes because you actually do get up and fix the computer or help them with the dial on the washer or play a game of Scrabble where the biggest word you can conjure is "snot"), and contemplating your life, you notice how dirty the windows are.  Or the spider webs that are softly swaying in the heater's breeze.  Or the accumulation of cat hair on the back of the couch.  Or the dust on the lamp shade.  Or............the list goes on.  Really not the best of environments to be contemplating your life.  Kind of depressing actually. 



What was my point?  Really, I was going somewhere with this.  Give me a minute...................................

See?  I've been interrupted 13 times (not joking) since I sat down to write this and have lost my train of thought.  Its a wonder I get through the day.

It'll come to me.  Probably at 3:00 in the morning and then I'll forget again by tomorrow. 

Anyway, Mommy is definitely feeling better and things are starting to run smoothly again.  I'm playing catch up on so many things. 

I know, you'd think I'd be catching up on cleaning.  Yeah,.......no.   Although the laundry is done ;)

I've been getting the December Daily done.  And I am done except, I ran out of ink.........again.  I'm only 1 picture away from it being complete.  Woo Hoo! 

Here is the front cover:

Classic Numbers (retired) and Christmas Classics set.  Confetti white, early espresso and daffodil delight cardstock.  More mustard and real red ink.  Brights and Neutrals Patterns DSP, sticky rhinestones and dimensionals.


I started this without an album to put anything in.  Ali was making hers 6"x 8".  So I thought I'd just do the same.  Now I'm just too cheap and lazy to go find an album it will fit in so I just punched some holes and put book rings in them.  It works really well but I'm a little concerned about the fact that the pages are not protected.  I used the Tombow Multi Glue on everything so I don't think anything will fall apart.  Time will tell I guess. 

Then here are days 1-7.  A few weeks went by and I didn't even sit at my desk to do the Dec. Daily.  BUT, I did keep taking pics and a running list of anything that happened each day.  So that when I went back to put it all together, all I had to do was find the pic and put it together.  Next year I hope to be more on top of it everyday or so.

day 8

Not much happened this day so I put in Grace's Christmas list.  The boy didn't make one this year and nobody can find 16's. 

day 9

What you may notice is that I quit making each day a 2 page spread.  My life is just not that exciting to accomodate that.  So I started doing 1 pagers. 

day 10

This page didn't photograph very well. 

day 11

day 12

Alrighty then.  I have more done but I'll show you later.  I need to get the ink and finish printing the pics. 


Holy cow!  I just reread this whole post and its so long and hardly makes sense!  See what happens when I don't talk to anyone except myself and teenagers in too long?  I just ramble.  Okay well, maybe you just skipped all that talk and just went for the pics.  Does anybody read all my nonsense anyway?

Thank you so much for stopping by and keeping things tidy around here.  I hope you are all staying healthy.

Blessings, b.

Only 3 more days 'till Christmas?

Holy Cow Batman! 

Sorry again for the absence.  I'm just so tired at night that I end up just going to bed.  Which is not good!  I've been working on a little book of pics for my grandmother and I keep putting it off.  Needless to say it won't be there for Christmas.  My dad's stuff either.  Why am I such a procrastinator?  Why, why, why...............

I'm not done getting gifts either.  I am notorious for wrapping 90% of my gifts on Christmas Eve.  This year I'm going to try and get everything done by tomorrow night.  My friend Leila has a tradition in her home that I'm finally going to put into effect at my house.  Its such a great idea, ready for it? 

She has 3 children, like me, and they are crazy for checking out the gifts under the tree, like mine.  So, she wraps everyones gifts in a different pattern of paper.  So Suzy gets all her gifts wrapped in penguins.  Judy gets hers wrapped in snowflakes.  Barney gets his wrapped in reindeer.  Heres the great part, she puts them under the tree with no names on anything.  Nobody knows which gift is whose except, her.  Then on Christmas morning she tells them which pattern they get to open.  So fun!  Well, I think it'll be fun.  We'll see.

I'm also not up to date on my Daily December.  I finally installed the new ink cartridge.  Thats a step in the right direction.  I have things written down.  I just need to spend some quality time with it.  It.Will.Happen. 

I do have days 6 and 7 to show you tonight. 


Day 6 

Classic Numbers (retired).  Confetti white and real red cardstock.  Real red ink.  3/4" and 1" circle punches, dimensionals, Brights Patterned DSP.

I love Nativity sets.  When I was little we had one that went under the tree and had a place to put a bulb where the star would go.  This set goes on top of the tv.  I got this set either right before or right after the boy was born.  He loved playing with it.

Its made out of wood and has the paint all chipped.  Frankly, I'm surprised we still have all the pieces ;)

Day 7

Same supplies

I love Charlie Brown.  I can relate to him.

I got the pic off the internet.  I love all the Charlie Brown specials.  Back in the "olden days" when I was little, it was a big deal for the whole family when they came on tv. 

I found a bunch of info on Wikipedia about the history behind the Christmas special.  It was kinda neat to read.  Go check it out. 


Alrighty then, I think I've made my egg nog a little strong and better go to bed before I start getting mushy and telling you all how much I love you and everything.  I mean, not that I don't love you, I mean, I do...............well you know what I mean......right? 

Thanks for stopping by and just in case I don't get back on here before Christmas, have a wonderful and blessed Christmas.  I love you guys.

Blessings, b.

sorry...............

Hey everyone.  I'm so sorry I've been absent.  I've thought of you every day.  Its just that lately, there have been a million important things to take care of and changes that have happened, that my head just hadn't been in a crafty mode. 

But, things are getting back on track.    I have been working on my December Daily.  Have you been working on yours?  Mine is super simple this year.  I still need my cover page but here are pages 1-5:

Day 1

Christmas Classics, Typeset alpha (retired) and Classic Numbers (retired).  Confetti White, Daffodil Delight, crumb cake and real red cardstock.  Real red and White Stazon inks.  3/4" and 1" circle punches, small heart punch, Brights Patterned DSP, dimensionals, glitter gel pen and black journaler.

I decided to go with a 6" x 8" size.  I'm behind enough that I don't have a book to put them in.  I may end up making my own binding if I can't find one.  Nothing like putting the cart before the horse, eh? 

Anyhow, Ali Edwards has these great digital overlays.  She is such a genius!  I'm not computer savvy enough to know how to use them and I just don't feel like learning how right now.  So I just drew some lines with my black journaler. 

She is also famous for using large pics in all her scrapbooking.  So I'm going a little larger this year. 


Day 2

This page uses the retired Well Worn Alphabet.  Again, I used the glitter gel pen to add some shine to the ornament.  Not a very exciting page huh? 

This pic measures 5.5" x 4".  When I was thinking of what kind of layout I was going to use, I needed something that would work with 4x6, 5x7, and wallet sizes.  I don't have Photoshop or anything like that so I'm limited in what I can do.  That being said, I'm such a dork that I didn't buy the My Digital Studio that SU! sells when it was on sale Thanksgiving week for half price.  DUH!  Then I would have been able to make them any size I want.  Oh well..................

Day 3

For this page I got the idea of inserting pics into a Word document.  That way I could size them differently and print on the same piece of paper.  Worked fairly well.  I wish I had nicer writing...........

You can see I used the glitter gel pen again on the tree. 


Day 4

You knew I had to do something with the veggies, right?  Can you believe that when we got back from New Mexico that there were still some on there?  I've left the pepper plants alone.  They are doing fine and I'll see if they just hang on until next spring.  Then I've left one tomato, two zucchini and all the green bean plants alone.  They keep growing!  Of course it was 85 degrees today.  Ah........December in Southern California. 

I used another Word document here.  Why didn't I think of inserting pics into it before to make a little collage?  So easy!  But I've always said, I'm a little slow sometimes ;)

Day 5 

They are getting so fast at putting them together, I'll have to get another one when school gets out. 

Okay, thats all thats complete so far.  I have a few more pages 1/2 way done and a bunch of pics that need to be organized.  

I'm so far behind in all kinds of things.  And, I'm such a dummy that I keep adding things.  Cookie exchange?  Sign me up!  Secret Santa?  Sign me up!  Got teacher gifts?  Oh crap!  I'm taking Tuesday off from work so we'll see if I can catch up on stuff.  

Alrighty then, thank you so much for stopping by and checking things out.  Things should be getting back to normal.

Blessings, b.

Are you ready?

Hey there!  Its dawned on me (with some help from Ali Edwards) that I need to be getting ready for the December Daily 2010 edition.  ACK!  How can December be just a few days away? 

See here for Ali's helpful suggestions.  I'm not ready yet.  Last year I had it all together. 

What works for me is this: 

• decide on 2 stamp sets to use.  Last year I used Christmas Classics and Classic Numbers (retired). 
• pick out colors.  last year I used Crumb Cake, Old olive, Whisper white and real red
• choose 2 or 3 layouts and what size your pages will be
• get an album or decide what you're going to make one out of.  last year I used the 8 1/2"x 8 1/2" chipboard album.  They are retired now but you can get them for 1/2 price on the Clearance Rack right now. 
• make a list of a few things you know you want to document.  Like, the Advent calendar, baking, shopping, Christmas plays, relatives, church, decorations, any traditions, etc....

Ali has a bunch of great tips.  You don't have to do the whole month.  Just do a week or a day, or just till the 25th.  I did it last year and I'm so glad I did.  I LOVE going through it. Hide it away with your decorations and only bring it out during the holiday. 

Leave me a comment here and let me know if you'll be doing it with me.  I'll be getting all my stuff together and show you as I go. 

Do what works for you.  Ali has all her pages laid out already.  I found that too constricting for me.  Limiting what stamps and colors I was using was enough for me to get started and eventually done.  Too many options are too much for me to even get started and make the project seem overwhelming.

This is definitely a "no stress" project.  You get done what you get done.  Its more than you would have otherwise. 

Just do it!

Blessings, b.