Christmas Wreath

I am so going to make one of these.....isn't it awesome?! If anyone wants directions, just email me & I'll send you the link.

Jars of Clay

Today's Truth:
2 Corinthians 4:7 (NIV) "But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us."





In Louisa May Alcott's book, Little Women, she includes a conversation from Mrs. March to her three girls, Meg, Jo, and Amy. "I only care what you think of yourself. If you feel your value lies in being merely decorative, I fear that someday you might find yourself believing that's all you really are. Time erodes all such beauty. But what it cannot diminish is the wonderful workings of your mind - your humor, your kindness, and your moral courage. These are things I so cherish in you."



~taken from Girlfriends in God...by Sharon Jaynes

Angels We Have Heard on High

How awesome....Brent & the band were rockin' the Chris Tomlin Christmas music this morning in church! We sang several off his new Christmas cd including 'Joy to the World/Unspeakable Joy' & 'Angels We Have Heard on High'. What a way to start off the Christmas season!!

At Cookin' Up Creations this past week we had an Ad Challenge & this is the ad that Naureen picked for us.

And this is the layout of Miss Gibbs that I created with the above ad as my inspiration.

Below are my latest three card entries in the Card-A-Day challenge.....I can't beleive that tomorrow is our last day of cards....but boy, has this been a fun challenge & I have a nice little stash of cards going on here to use. ;-) Thanks, Jan for all the cool challenges!

A Thanksgiving Card

Black/White/& one other color

Use a flower on your card

Anyway.....if you have been following along & enjoying the cards each day.....stay tuned......Tuesday starts our Countdown to Christmas & Beyond. We will have a month full of all kinds of creative goodness. Each Day a memeber of our Design Team will post a new challenge/How-To for some nifty Holiday surprise. We have recipes, gifts, cards/tag ideas, banners, pocket calendars, decoupaged picture frames & much, much more!! And if that's not enough to grab your interest....then hang on til the first of the year & we're going to start a brand new year-long challenge to create a 'Book of Me'. I'll be posting all kinds of idea prompts to help you create an album documenting YOU & who you really are........Topics like 'What's in a Name', 'Jobs I've Had', 'Important People in My Life'......just to share a few. Like I said, it will be a year long project......a different topic each week for you to work on & by year's end, you will have 52 pages in your book....all about YOU. So be sure to stop by Cookin' Up Creations & check it all out!!

Black Friday

Today was not a bad day at all shopping-wise for us. Clay had gotten up EARLY to go to Best Buy before work & he had me worried......said he got there about 4:30am & it was unbelievable! Cars & people everywhere & lined up still trying to get into the parking lot. So, he just left & went on to work early. Ashley & I headed out about our usual time.....around 9:30 & it wasn't bad at all. Went to Office Max for some dvds & it was VERY quiet there. In & out in no time. Next was Lifeway for some cds they had on sale for $5......got every one I wanted except for the Michael W Smith (they were sold out) but that was ok because that one was just for me & not for Christmas. From there we went to CFA for lunch & their parking lot was like EMPTY! So empty that I took a picture for my Picture of the Day. They said it had been busy EARLY this morning, but it sure wasn't then. I think the most crowded store we went to was Aeropostale at the mall. And really it wasn't bad....it's just that it's a small store & was really crowded, but they handled all the people/check-out lines really well. Even Walmart was much quieter than our usual Friday afternoons. I was very pleased getting groceries....not crowded at all. So, I came home tired, but defintely not stressed & that's a good thing! We had a nice day & got some things checked off the Christmas lists so all is well. Clay is in bed already....he was whooped. And as soon as Michael & Alli head up to bed we're going to watch NCIS & then I'm off to bed to read.

More Cards

Just some more cards to share from our Card-a-Day challenge at Cookin' Up Creations:For this one, we had to use a paper piecing. In my stash I found this adorable santa pattern tucked away & thought he was perfect for this challenge.

This one was simple......make a Christmas card. ;-)

Here, we were challenged to create our own patterned paper. The scan of this is not too good at all....looks much better IRL, but anyway. I used my snowflake punch to creat a mask....then spritzed walnut ink to create the brown snowflakes. Removed the mask & spritzed a bit more on the background. I also punched a couple of cream colored snowflakes & added to the background. Punched scallop shape, snowflake cut-out & some sheer ribbon & I was done.

This one was really simple....just use a circle shape on your card. I had picked up this card-making kit at Target last year after Christmas & had almost forgotten about it. Because of that, this card came together really quickly. The card with red dotted band & sentiment is all pre-printed. I added my own stamp & the circle tag tied with silver cord. Then punched a few snowflakes & added some clear glitter glue for accents.

And last of all.....this one was a sketch challenge. Perfect for using up some scraps from my stash. A few punched snowflakes to add dimension, some inking & clear glitter glue & voila!

Recap

Ok...quick recap of the past week:

*Last Tues. was Daniel's 5th birthday....we partied at Maw's house with Ella & her kids. The kids had a blast playing outside...raking up HUGE piles of leaves in front of the swing set so they could slide or jump into them!

*Ashley & I both got our hair cut on Tues. Ashley had about 6" cut off of hers.....it looks awesome!

* Alli got her ears pierced on Tues. also. It's been almost a week now & NO problems. I'm so thankful because Ashley had a time with hers. They were terrible, but we plodded through & they've been fine ever since.

*Thurs. Ashley & I met Chris & Maw & we went to see the musical version of 'Jane Eyre' at the LU theater. What an awesome performance! My favorite so far. The first show we've been to that got a standing ovation at the end. These kids are Excellent! And what's even more amazing is to see the REAL kids performing in these plays. Meaning grade school kids. This play alone had three of the most adorable & talented little girls/young ladies in it. A 9 yr. old, 11 yr. old & a 12 yr. old......& they were every bit as amazing as the college aged kids & what voices they had!

* Friday I went to town alone. Trying to do the shopping & run errands as quickly as I could. The girls stayed home & finished the cleaning up....as Chris was coming home for Thanksgiving break. He got home about 4pm. When the guys got home from hunting we ordered Vitos pizza for supper. Yum!

*Yesterday was church & then our Thanksgiving dinner at church last night at 6pm. We had some wonderful food & terrific fellowship. Much to be thankful for!!

Stressful Morning

When I came downstairs this morning, the first thing I noticed was Charlie sprawled out on the back of the loveseat on my quilt.....where he's NOT supposed to be! Then I walked into the dining room & saw this....I about freaked out!! It was like, OMG....what do I do first! We can only guess that Charlie was hot to trot after Gibbs & she tried to jump up on the desk to get away from him & he followed her. I couldn't find her anywhere & was so scared that I was going to find her squished UNDER some of the mess! But she finally came crawling out from over behind the printer. That whole top shelf part was tipped....the scanner was in the floor....papers & cds were strewn under the dining room table.....the monitor & speakers were just dangling by their cords....the big old black telephone from Aunt Kitty's was in the floor.....& my glass 'Bowl' that Aunt Vada had bought for me when I was just a little kid was laying in the floor...it fell from that top shelf...& it was UNBROKEN!! I told Maw an angel caught it for me! PTL, not a thing was broken, the computer & scanner still work & there were no dead kitties!!! Whew! And obviously, you can see that even in the midst of the trauma, the scrapbooker in me took over & I HAD to take pictures. ;-) Never a dull moment at our house.

Super Sunny Saturday

That title just seemed to pop right off my lips so to speak......for some reason the kids & I have been on a roll with our alliterations. Not that we've been specifically studying them...we did that last year, but someone must've started it & it seems like everyone has joined in. I was going to share some of the ones I've heard over the week, but my mind is blank all of a sudden. Will have to try & jot some down so I can come back & share them here.

Some more of my recent card creations for our challenge at Cookin' Up Creations. This is one of my favorites & it was really fairly easy to do. The little flowers are glued atop the card insert where you can write your message....it pulls out of the flower pot.

Just a quick little card....we were challenged to use stitching on our card. It could be real stitching, pen stitching or stamped stitching. I took the lazy way out here & used the pen stitching.

Another quick & easy card....the challenge here was to use 'text'.....either from patterned paper, pages from old books, text stamps, etc. I punched these cute little flowers from a scrap of text paper that I had in my bag. Love how these challenges help you use up all those scraps!

A layout from our night at Scare Mare. Ashley, Jon & I went with the youth group from Calvary Chapel....we had about 30 in our group & we had an awesome time!!

Just a quick LO of our visit to Ella's house this summer.

And last but not least.....this LO of Sarah & Anna.....it was done for Patti's Lift challenge this week at CUC. I really loved the picture (Thanks Charlotte) & I like how the LO turned out.

Scrap Sketch

WooHoo.....my first LO on the Scrap Sketch blog....http://www.scrapsketch.com/....check it out!! This was Calvary Chapel's Back to School Pool Party that we had at Sugar Mill Pool back in Sept. Pictured above are Logan, Ashley & Alli.

November DT Creations

Love how this cute little mini album from D. Williams Designs turned out. I used it to showcase Ashley's Sweet 16 BD pics. It was fun to do & really quick & easy.All of the next three layouts used My Mind's Eye papers.....Kaleidoscope & Magnolia Collections.
Pics of the kids riding with Chris for the first time....after AShley's BD supper at Pizza Hut... we all went shopping for a while.

My crazy boys......when Chris was leaving after Fall Break. The little journal spot at the bottom reads: 'A brother is a friend given by nature'

Alli & Cori this summer.....you can never be too old to play in the sand. ;-)

My Latest Cards

Day 5- use something 'soft' on your card like felt, fabric, flocking, etc. I chose to use a felt flower on this card for my niece.Day 6- This one was simple....make a card using buttons.
Day 7- make a card using papers from at least 3 different manufacturers. What a fun & easy way to use up some of my scraps!

Day 8- Use OLD paper & eyelets. I dug to the bottom of my box & pulled out this gingham paper from Daisy Ds & the flower paper was BoBunny's Shabby Princess. I used the eyelets as flower centers.

Day 9- Create a 'Thanks' cards/Fall theme

I'm loving this challenge & it sure it nice to get my card stash built back up!!

Skipping Stones

Well, Winterfest tickets have been purchased for the three oldest kiddos. They are all SO excited...they've never been before, but all three of them were REALLY wanting to go this year. We didn't get tickets for the whole event just the NYE concert....that was what they were really interested in anyway. They will get to hear Barlow Girl, Fire Flight, Fee, Skillet & Mercy Me.

Just printed the pattern for this afghan....the Skipping Stones Afghan. Ashley ran across it in the Spring 2008 Lion Brand catalog & fell in love with it & wants me to crochet this for her bed. I told her at this point it, it's not likely to happen for Christmas, but will be a good project for me to work on during the cold snowy months afterwards. So, that's the plan....she's already been looking at yarn colors at AC Moore & writing down numbers of the ones she wants. Another little interesting tidbit from our day.....we found out that our little orange kitty, Gibbs is really a GIRL. LOL!! I guess it was kind of hard to tell with all that long fur. No wonder Charlie was extra 'friendly' with her whenever we let her come inside. Rolling my eyes!! Only at our house.

Fullmetal Alchemist

Just wanted to share some of Jon's latest artwork. He drew this himself, then scanned it & did all the coloring/outlining in paint.Pretty cool, huh?!

Card Challenge

We've started doing a Card-A-Day challenge over at Cookin' Up Creations.....It started Sun. & will run through the month of Nov. It's a great way to add to your stash of cards. Here's what I've done so far....Day 1- There were several examples we could lift...
Day 2- we were supposed to do a collage-y type card....I did the above two cards for friends at church.

Day 3- We were supposed to use a number/numbers on our card. This was done for a special little buddy who has a BD coming up VERY soon. ;-)

And today's....Day 4....our challenge was to make a TALL, skinny card. I'm loving all these challenges & the cool examples that Jan has been sharing to inspire us.

This was just a couple of fun pics that I took last month of Clay & Jon splitting a pile of fire wood.....you know all the winter preparations.... I used one of Stephanie's sketches from scrapsketch....#173. Love all her awesome sketches! I've been using them alot here lately. ;-)

AFTER Halloween.....

OK, it's officially AFTER Halloween now. Ashley said I had to wait til AFTER Halloween before we listened to any form of Christmas music. I think she wanted to check this new cd out as much as I did though. We just found out about this new Chris Tomlin cd the other day on his website & so she decided to see if she could find it at Walmart the other day. Believe it or not, there was just ONE copy there....for $9.....so we got it. She said it was meant for her to have this copy. ;-)It really is good.....we stuck it in this afternoon while we sipped our coffee & scrapped. She says I'm not allowed to over-do & wear out the Christmas music just yet as it is still a tad early.....but this is one I KNOW we will get lots of enjoyment out of!!

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Need to make some cards? Cookin' Up Creations is having a "Card a Day in November" challenge, with a chance to win a $20. gift certicate to your fav online store. Pretty cool, right? Just in time to buy yourself a scrappy Christmas gift! Gotta love that! LOL