The Holidays are Officially Over

This morning I can honestly say that our holidays are completely over.  The kids went back to school yesterday, and I’ve just returned from dropping my parents off at the airport.  The outside lights came down yesterday, as well as all indoor traces of Christmas.  My poor tree has been tossed to the curb.  It feels so bare and empty today, and oh, my goodness, how quiet all of a sudden.  My neighbor said that her house is so empty now that she feels like re-decorating.  I can relate to that.  But you know me by now.  I do have some touches of decor around here and there.  I can’t go completely without.   This is the little winter scene I set up in my sunroom.

I’m hoping if I leave enough hints around, we’ll actually get some real snow this winter.  The kids sure would love that.

Now that the holidays are over I know I need to get back down to business. I want to devote more time to my blog and catch up with everyone else.  I’ve got assignments to work on, too, and it’s just dawning on me how soon CHA will be upon us. I really NEED to get to work.  Maybe it’s a good thing after all that Christmas is over.  And please keep me away from PathWords.  Yikes!

Before I scamper off to my scraproom, I have another page to share using our January kit from Paper-Playground.

The photos are of Nik opening her  presents for her new room this Christmas.  I absolutely love the left-hand photo.  I was focusing on Nik and her expression, and didn’t even realize that Peter had grabbed the end of her new blanket and was loving on it until afterwards.  What a fun surprise that was.  His face absolutely cracks me up.  My little goofball.

Time for me to get to work.

Have a great day everyone!

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I’m Addicted to Pathwords

Ok, so I am seriously addicted to that pathwords game on Facebook.  Do you all know about it?  I had never heard of it until the party I went to on New Year’s Eve.  All the ladies were talking about it and how addicted they are and what their hightest scores are.  The subject would get dropped until a new person came in, and then it would come up again.  Seems like my whole neighborhood is competing against each other in scores, and there were some rivalries going on.  I should have known to stay away, but did I?  No.  Ughh.  I don’t even want to think about how much time I’ve wasted on that game today.  And I’m not very good, either.

I do have a page to share, though, using our new January kit from Paper-Playground.  I decided to start the new year with a little reflection on my hopes and dreams for 2009.

A new year, a new chance….to set new goals, to seek out joy, to live life to the fullest…..anything is possible.  Thought this was a good reminder for myself, and for all of us.

I love the soft and beautiful Melissa Frances papers in this months kit, as well as all the extra goodies.  Think I used every possible embellishment on here that I could.  But probably my favorite part of making this page was using the glimmer screen snowflake by Tattered Angels.  I have posted a tutorial in the Paper-Playground classroom if anyone would like some directions on using this template.  We’ve included an ink pad in the kit to make this technique a snap.

I better get off this computer before I melt right into the seat!

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Sketch This #68

Hey everyone!  Happy Tuesday to you!  I don’t know about you all, but I’m in a pretty good mood right now.  I’ve just come home from shopping and lunch out with Glammie.  Nothing like a little retail therapy to cure all that ails you, right?  And we even managed to find a few sales, and that makes things even better.  Needed to find some pants for Peter, as now that the weather is getting cooler in the morning, we’re starting to think about pants again.  Went through his dresser and discovered he was down to one pair of khakis and one pair of jeans that still fits.  That’s just not going to cut it.  We found a couple of jeans on sale for him and now I’ve just got to try to twist his arm to try them on, which is a whole other struggle in itself.  Also found a couple of clearance shorts, so snagged those up, too.  Found one small thing for Nik, and picked up a little something for myself while we were at it.  I am SO excited about my little find……..but I’m not going to tell you all yet.  The thing that we found leads into other things that are needed to complete the whole look…..you know how that goes. (I need to stay away from Pottery Barn).  Glammie and I decided that we can try to make this project ourselves, and that’s what we are going to work on this afternoon when Nik gets home.  Hopefully I can show you all tomorrow!!  Tee hee!  I’m practically giddy.  Hope it turns out half as cute as the display at Pottery Barn.

But before I go get Nik, I want to share my card for the Sketch This blog this week.  Sketch #68.

So cute, isn’t it?  Here is my card.

I’m sure you all are not in the least bit surprised to see a Halloween card, are you?  I’ve got Halloween on the brain.  It just makes me happy, and……..I used up some old, old scraps for this so I feel thrifty, too boot.  The paper is from Reminisce and KI, and that spider……my gosh is he ever OLD.  It’s from a die-cut sheet from Carolee’s that my friend Kathie gave me years ago.  Feels good to use it finally.  I did some machine stitching around each piece of paper, and gave the spider a hand-stitched web.  I free-handed a little speech bubble and stamped the greeting with my tiny Hero Arts alphabet stamps.  I always feel good when I break out my stamps, too.  Yup….it’s a feel good kind of day.

Time for me to get started on that new project.  Wish me luck!

Have a great day everyone!

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Ready For More?

So how about it? Are you all ready to see another project I made using the September kit from Paper-Playground? I am going to get you guys hooked yet. I can honestly tell you that I am in love with this kit. It keeps drawing me back into my scrap room. Pretty soon there is going to be nothing left of it. I’m starting to get down to scraps, but I can tell I’m going to eek out every little tidbit I can. Love it too much to let anything go to waste. Here is today’s page.

LOOK at my little guy! Wasn’t he just the cutest thing? Where does the time go? That’s all I can think of when I look at this photo……..where on earth has the time gone? How can more than a decade have slipped away since this picture was taken? So long ago….sigh.

Think I’m going to move on to some recent photos because these last two pages have made me quite sentimental. Love this, though. This kit was just perfect for this photo that I’ve been hanging onto for a very, very long time. Perfect colors! Perfect!

I’ve still got more projects up my sleeve. Tomorrow I will share a couple of cards that I have made with the kit. But for now……..I hear my scrap room calling.

Enjoy your weekend everyone!

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