December Daily - Days 15-18

Well slowly I am getting the pages done. I am taking a break to make a few Thank you cards so should have those up Friday.

I finally am free of my "holiday responsibilities" and can truly just spend time scrapping. Today is my last Christmas festivity so I will cook dinner for the grandbabies and open the last of the gifts, but then I am done. I have done my luncheons, shopped, ran errands and took care of those pesky things you find yourself doing once you have free time on your hands.

Santa brought me a pasta roller so I do plan on dabbling on making my own pasta at some point but that should be an adventure.

Without further ado here are pages 15 - 18.

Not much going on for day 15, just getting the piles of presents wrapped

 

Day 16 we had potluck at work and it was requested I bring cake so tried a lemon raspberry cake which went pretty quick.

 



 

The best day of the week, I am on vacation and went back up to the city to see Kinky Boots. A great play and definitely recommend it to anyone who is thinking of seeing it. Just a great warm hearted comedy that leaves you feeling good. 

Day 18, the kitties got their new toys early since we weren't going to be around for Christmas. This tower of balls went over very well. 

 

 

That's it for now, hope everyone is finding the time to finish their DD pages. I always enjoy seeing all the lovely pages.

 

Everyone have a safe and Happy New Years!

Back From Oregon

Just came back on Saturday evening so haven't had much time to do anything other than unwind and laundry, but thought I would share some pictures from the trip.

On the drive up there is this beautiful view of the Black Butte Mountain

 

And when we first started coming here oh at least 20 years ago there was just this metal cow but in the past few years she now has a calf. I finally was able to take a decent photo.

 

A little further up someone added a dragon, but it has been here for the past 10 years I believe. I just love that people provide highway art for us to enjoy as we drive by.

 



I have also been admiring these trucks for a long time. The array of colors is just astounding.

On Christmas Eve we decided to drive up to Crater Lake and to our pleasant surprise it began snowing.

 

There was at least 3 foot of snow and we probably would have enjoyed this more if one we were properly dressed for it and two it wasn't actually snowing with gusts of wind but we did make our way to the lodge for a bit of hot chocolate. 

 

 

The drive back it's always a treat to see this view of Mt. Shasta. 

 

 

And new for us was the sunset since our departure time was delayed a few hours. Usually we are home by this time so it was nice to enjoy the views of the sunset on our way home. 

 

 

Glad to be back home and will be celebrating Christmas three times this year. First was with in in-laws then once we were back home I do another celebration with my grand babies but found out my son has to work on the only day we can get everyone together so we did another day with him. I know some people stretch out their birthdays to weeks and even months but have to admit this is the first time I have stretched Christmas out to a week long of celebration.

 

I hope everyone has enjoyed their holiday time and am hoping now that I got son and dh back to work and me with a bit of free time to finally get in some much needed crafting time. 

Closing the Gap on DD

So I am lagging behind a little and I had the pictures for most of it so I think I am starting to catch up but I did have to combine some days since either the theme was repetitious or lets face it, I didn't really have anything to share for that day.

Here are Days 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14

I combined three days, I actually didn't mean to but silly me was trying to figure out how to get my pages so they would end and I could do a dbl page and somehow I ended up doing 3 days together.

This was a evening at Cirque Du Soleil and the double page I was trying to accommodate for.

Twas the Night Before Christmas

and we are all visiting family in Oregon, but I just wanted to wish you a very Merry Christmas and all the best wishes for a safe and happy New Year!

Something unexpected

A baby congratulations card.  I bet you weren't expecting that so close to Christmas, but my oldest ds is expecting his first child and being a true grandma I rushed right out and purchased gifts for the little one.

No idea if it's a boy or girl so the card is gender neutral.

And I honestly can say I don't have much in the way of baby dies or stamps so I found some old sizzix dies and dug through my scrap paper because I really didn't have any paper that portrayed a babyish theme. I choose grey and yellow.

Taming the Chaos

Well I feel bad I am not able to post yet another day of my DD. Alas I took one look at my room and made a conscious effort that I needed to get it in some sort of order, however that meant first thing I needed to start with is wrapping the mound of gifts that was occupying my floor.

As you can see here, this is what I have been working with for the past 2-3 weeks for desk space.

And here is the mound of gifts occupying my floor space

It took me 3.5 hours including a dinner break but I am done. No more gifts to wrap except for 2 that I am planning on buying my husband. So this is the reason why I don't have any DD up yet again.

And just wanted to share a picture from the Kurios show from Cirque du Soleil. Loved the show and this was one part of the show where there was a dinner party which was being mimicked up on the ceiling of the tent. The one diner began building chairs and odds and ends from the table up and then it was also mirrored from the ceiling. This is the point they actually met.

 

Well I am heading back up to San Francisco today to see Kinky boots with my mother and she wanted to spend the night since she has a doctors app't up there so afterwards I am sure we will be doing some window shopping. I have to tell you I have been up to the city more times this month than I make in a year.

More December Daily

I have to admit I feel like I am barely keeping up with my DD. I am going away this weekend which is really going to put a damper on getting anything done for this week. I am trying to take pictures so I have those but given Christmas is fast approaching with so much left to do I am feeling a little overwhelmed.

Today is say 6, 7 and 8.

I was creating these pages last night listening quietly to the rain outside my window, it was such a peaceful sound I didn't feel the need to turn on any music and just enjoyed the moment.

Day 6 is documenting that we bought our tree and that I always buy cedar bunches that I use to fill plastic cups which sit in these beaded candle holders which I bought years ago from Pottery barn. I mounted them to my wall around a mirror (3 on either side) in my entry way. And together between the tree and the cedar bunches our house smells wonderful.

 

Day 7 - Today documents our new lights. We bought new colorful LED lights to replace some blue ones that my husband bought a few years ago. Mistakenly thinking they would resemble the feel of snow. My ds called us the Hanukkah House. BTW I took the photos using a circle of chipboard that I cut out using my Spellbinders dies and then a small heart was cut out in the middle again using a Spellbinders die. I then used painters tape to affix the circle on top of the lens and you get these nice little hearts. The circle was the same size or diameter as my lens in case anyone was interested in repeating this.

 



 

Day 8 - Just noting the fact that I took some yummy cranberry muffins to work.

 

The Elf Antics Continue

More Elf pictures to show today. My ds and I are keeping Enzo very busy this holiday season. I am still waiting for my son to either leave his phone or laptop out so I can take a selfie or email to Santa.

Today he is being kind and leaving a gift card to Starbucks for my son. I woke up this am and I guess Enzo was telling me I needed to decorate the tree as there were a few ornaments hanging on it along with Enzo and I haven't had time to actually decorate it yet.

Wanted to share more of my son's creativity.
Came home last night to find a bit of a poker game in progress.

The other morning I had to unwrap my car.

I guess Enzo got carried away and wrapped himself as well which was a good thing because the car was pretty wet.

 

Another day I came home to find yarn strung through my entire house only to see the Elf using it as a high wire.

 



December Daily Continues

I can honestly tell you, my craft room is still in a disarray. I just didn't get enough time and energy to clean it so my work space is definitely in chaos.

Today I am sharing days 3, 4 and 5.

Day 3 isn't anything very significant. I just had purchased another Christmas Cactus last year and ironically I am noting how this one bloomed early while the other one just now has buds.

 

Day 4 - This was a big day for my son, this is the day he purchased a new car (with his parents help of course) so it had to be noted. Funny I just noticed you can't seem the snowflakes I stamped on the circle. 

Day 5 - This was a fun day. My mother and I went to San Francisco for some shopping and to have afternoon tea at a place called Lovejoys. It's really a very charming place and the food was really very tasty. Definitely worth going back to.

 



Elf Mischief

Well I was hoping to have more DD to post today, or at least that was the plan until I got home and realized I had too much going on this weekend in addition to buying my ds a new car . I casually suggested we go tonight and of course he was nothing less than thrilled. So if you have ever bought a new car you know that it easily takes two to three hours before you make it our of  there which is pretty much how it went. So after finalizing all the pesky details like insurance, getting dinner on the table and all the excitement died down my time just ran out.

So in lieu of DD I am sharing some elf mischief. I have been posing the elf every day for my ds when he gets up but I have to share with you the fact that when I get home, Enzo (the elf) has been up to even more mischief, i.e my son relocates the elf for me (gotta love a kid who plays right back).

These are the last two days my son relocated the elf. I didn't take a picture the first day but that little guy TP'd my bathroom.

I came home the other day and he was hanging from the light in the kitchen.

 

Today when I came home he was in my craft room writing a letter to Santa. (As you can see my desk is very very messy.) 

 

And so it begins - December Daily

I have just started and I already feel overwhelmed and behind. Yes I have my pages done but my desk is a disaster that I am literally scrapping in a 2 ft by 2 ft space. I literally can not find anything and am digging through piles trying to find my supplies, tools ,etc. I hope to remedy that over the weekend.

Funny it felt like I had plenty of time to prepare and then the next thing I knew it was December 1st, no idea how that happened.

So here are my first two days. Not much going on so just doing half pages and of course my title page which I am not entirely happy with but heck it's done, right?

Getting Ready

Today I thought I would share a wreath I made that was fairly simple. Bought basically the Ribbon, Grapevine wreath, 2 bunches of branches and some Berry picks.

Honestly this was a matter of hot gluing the two branches on to the wreath, separating the berry picks and hot gluing those in and making a bow which obviously was the hardest part. I wish I was better at bow making but I think it will do. I also really wanted a plaid ribbon but couldn't find any that was wide enough. I really just like the natural look of this type of wreath.

 

Also wanted to share our Elf, Enzo. I really bought this guy last year to give to my dd for the grandbabies but as soon as I mentioned it she said "not that creepy elf on a shelf" so I adopted him. Mind you my kids are all grown but I do plan to have some fun with my ds and dh. More pranking or funny type things but all pretty much PG rated. So you might see him from time to time on the blog over the next 25 days.

 

My ds didn't really want him around either but the fact he gave him his name gives me hope he will enjoy the antics of the mischievous little elf.

 

I did add some wire into his body to help make him more pose-able since there isn't much structure to the elf itself.

 

 

 

 

Final Card Day

One last card using the background stamp from Stampin Up. This is just a mix of supplies (branch die from Martha Stewart, snowflake die from Simon Says Stamp and feather die from Paper Smooches punched in glittered cardstock) tucked in here and there to give it a nice embelly cluster. The tree was a last minute addition which I think worked out well and the die of course from WPlus9.

Merry Christmas - sledding

When I first saw this silhouette of a child sledding I knew I had to have it. It just exudes Christmas to me for some reason. I used distress inks to give the feel of a nightime sky and of course those lovely snowflakes from Simon Says Stamp for accents, a few enamel dots/heart and a bit of vellum and washi tape as well. 

 

Wrapping up my Christmas cards

So this week should be the last of my cards unless I can't resist the urge to keep making more or I find I need more. Right now I actually have all the sentiments stamped inside and am proceeding to address all the envelopes with stamps affixed so I can just drop them in the mail in a few weeks. Feels good to be ahead of the game this year for once.

First up for this week is another water color card using stamps from Besotted Stamps. I really wanted to make another after the snowman and it took me three attempts to get this right. First time I tried stamping in green which just looked odd, then I did it in brown but didn't get the color combo right so tossed that one too and then finally not wanting to feel defeated I tried it one last time. I decided to heat emboss the pine cones in gold though and add a few splatters of Tattered Angel mist.

This card is being sent to my in-laws since my dh gets first pick of all the cards to send to his parents. I always find it interesting to see which ones my dh picks for his parents because I think that says a lot about his tastes.