Scrappy goodies and something that makes me happy

I got a few scrappy goodies for Christmas!! I got some of the new grungeboard by Tim Holtz and some goodies from A Million Memories! I've already made a page but it's for Feeling Scrappy's paint class that starts in January so I can't show it to you yet (it's not too late to sign up!!). New goodies always inspire me to get scrapping. Here I am Christmas morning with my goodies.


And I wanted to share something that I LOVE right now. It's called Scentsy. Scentsy is a wickless candle and there are so many cool things about them-the wax never gets hotter than body temperature so the kids can burn themselves, there's no flame (a 25 watt bulb melts the wax) so you can leave it on even if you are not in the room or at home, the wax is made from food grade something or other so you don't have to rush any kids to the emergency room if they accidentally ingest it, and the wax doesn't evaporate so there's no yucky fume or chemicals being released into the air. You're probably thinking it, but NO, I don't sell these!! i just love, love them. I use them every day. I have three in my house-one in basement scrap room (see picture), one in the kitchen and one in a bathroom. I probably only need one on each level because the scent really carries but I had a party and got a good deal so why not. LOL

The main reason I wanted to share this is because having my favorite scent going while I am crafting just makes me HAPPY. Right now, my favorite is called Sweet Pea and Vanilla.

If you are interested in these, you can check them out at my friend Crystal's website.

Gotta get back to scrapping. Have a great day!!

Christmas

We had a great Christmas. I got a lot of pictures, but wouldn't you know it, I never got one of all of us at my mom's house! I even had my tripod all set up and it just never happened. Grrrr.

Anyway, here's the kids in their new pj's on Christmas Eve and Joshua putting out a cookie and a carrot for Santa and the reindeer.


Christmas morning-(Joshua enjoying some gifts from Santa)


Tom made banana pancakes for us for breakfast (and I made a casserole).


A couple from my mom's house-


My mom made us a FABULOUS dinner with ham, prime rib and another beef (i forget!) and it was sooooo yummy! Thank you, mom!!! I should have gotten a picture of the spread. And I didn't get any pictures with my dad in them. Sorry!!!

And our goofy dog getting in the way (very typical!! LOL)

Snow!

As promised, here's our snow! I think there is more snow forecasted in the next couple of days. I'll post Christmas pictures in a few minutes, too. (Trying to get caught up!)

White Christmas

It's snowing! Looks like we'll have a white Christmas this year. Just wanted to wish you all a very Merry Christmas! I'll post new pictures soon. Blessings to you and your families.

Merry Christmas!

I hope you all have a fabulous holiday with your families. Try not to eat too many cookies and goodies. :)

And here's some holiday fun-
Jayne is giving away a cool prize on her blog-check it out at http://feelinscrappy.blogspot.com/

She also has a fun little giveaway on the Feeling Scrappy message board!

Paint and a fun prize! (and other stuff)

I love snow but it kept me from accessing the Internet since Friday morning! Thankfully, I'm back now. :) I hate not being able to go online!!

Been busy working on January's paint class for www.feelingscrappy.com. Jayne's offering a great deal if you sign up for the next two classes(the paint and sketch classes)-go sign up now and save a few bucks!! We've added a new one week mini project class-Noteworthy Monograms- that I designed and will be teaching in February. I hope you'll go check it out and see how you can get the class for FREE!! Classes Here's a sneek peek of my class project-

I designed it so you can use stuff in your stash and you won't need to buy anything extra! This will make a great project for yourself or for a gift!

Still waiting to see if I get anymore ideas for a little video. If not, I'll be choosing an idea from the two people that posted comments with ideas. Remember, I said I'd send a prize to the person who posts the idea I pick. Just scroll down for the original post and add your own comment with idea.

Last but not least, i just found out I won a cool prize from A Million Memories. Check out what I won-

Thank you for the great prize!! This site puts together some amazing kits-monthly and special limited edition kits, too.

Gingerbread Men

We had a few of Joshua's friends over today to decorate gingerbread men. For some reason, I couldn't get them all in one shot-but here he is with Jack and Hannah.

Last minute gift idea!

I have a great last minute gift idea for-a gift certificate for an online scrapping class at www.feelingscrappy.com. Click HERE to go directly to the page to buy a gift certificate. Great idea for a scrappy friend or pass the link on to a hubby or someone else who might be clueless what to get for YOU!! The classes offered at this site are wonderful!! I've taken a few and will definitely be in the next few classes listed on the calendar. So much fun, you work at your own pace, you get encouragement and tons of ideas and samples. The january class is all about painting on your layouts (but most of the techniques will work for other crafty projects, too!). Then a sketch class and an embellishment class. So tons of fun and learning in store with this gift. Have a great Sunday!!

New layout

Finished up a couple of layouts last night but I can only show you this one. The other one is for the Paint class coming up in January at Feeling Scrappy. This page is for a Book of Us challenge about cars/daily transportation (I also cut some scallops for Colleen's Member of the Month challenge. I used some Webster's Pages paper I won from A Million Memories, as well as a couple of goodies from Jayne at Feeling Scrappy (grungeboard key and ribbon), CI paper, Bazzill paper, Distress Ink, embossing powder, Thickers and Rusty Pickle letters. I think that's it. :)

Card challenge and a RAK

I've posted a new card challenge on the Feeling Scrappy message board. It's all about scallops this week. I hope you'll check out my sketch and sample. :)

And I feel like trying my hand at another video but I don't know what anyone would want to see me make. Sooo, leave me a comment with your suggestion and I'll send a scrappy goodie to the person whose idea I pick. It can be anything...a how to or a technique or?? What do you think?

A sketch and some fun FS stuff!

Jayne updated the Feeling Scrappy website with the first Member of the Month, Colleen!! I hope you'll check out her interview and fave layouts on the homepage. Also, Colleen posted a fun challenge on the site's message board. Congrats Colleen!!

Here's a sketch I made a couple of days ago. I had planned on using it and posting both the sketch and the layout but I haven't gotten around to it yet. Soooooo, I'm just posting the sketch anyway. I hope you like it. Let me know if you use it. :)

Paper bag album

Suzanne asked me if the paper bags albums were hard to make. They are SUPER easy so I thought I'd post some instructions. If you make one, be sure to share it with me or leave me a comment!

You will need-
Three paper bags (I used small white bags from the craft store)
Glue
Stapler
Various paper scraps, ribbon, other scrappy goodies

Directions-
1. Turn bags in opposite directions then stack.

2. Fold them in half and then staple (or sew) them in the middle.

3. Cut a strip of paper to cover the binding and glue it on.

4. Add paper scraps to cover and decorate each page.
5. Add more paper scraps with ribbon to slide into the paper bag openings.

6. Have fun decorating it!

*I used scraps from American Crafts paper, Primas, a rhinestone from Lynda, paint, Distress ink, ribbon and a Grungeboard element that Jayne (from Feeling Scrappy) sent to me (the grungeboard, ribbon and some of the paper were from Jayne-Thanks Jayne!!).

Hardware

So, Jer decided to have the metal removed from his arm (it was there from a bad break three years ago) because it was bugging him. I knew how much was in there, but actually seeing it is something else. That's a lot of hardware he was carrying around. Three of the screws broke and the shafts are still in the bone. But the doc said they shouldn't bother him.

Shadow box and paper bag album

Found this at the dollar store. Ripped it apart to display Abby's little hat that we brought her home from the hospital wearing.



And just a fun little paper bag album. THought it might keep Joshua busy while we are out and I need a distraction. The family stamp below and the letters above are prizes I received from Jayne (Feeling Scrappy).

The kids and our stockings

Joshua LOVES Rocky. Poor Rocky. He puts up with a lot. LOL

Abby's still working on pushing up and can almost turn over.

And I know these might be silly to some people...but I like them. I first made stockings for me and Jer years ago with a good friend, Emily. We used to like working on little crafty projects together (I miss those days!!) and these stockings were one of our projects. After Joshua was born, I picked out some wintery material that I thought he'd like-he REALLY liked the cats and Rocky so this was perfect. Then when Abby was born, I wanted a material that was more girly and I thought these little winter frogs were cute. Anyway, just made hers today so our set of stockings is complete and we are ready for Santa to visit!

Scrappy video

So, I found this really cool blog- http://www.kwernerdesign.com/blog/videos.html where she posts fun little informational scrappy videos. I thought I'd give it a try since I really liked hers. But the only thing I could think of to record was me making a card for the card challenge I just posted at Feeling Scrappy.
The video is not very exciting. LOL If you can think of something better that you'd like me to demo, let me know. I know this is sort of choppy and long, but it was my first attempt. Don't laugh at me too much. Leave me a comment if you actually watch it. :)Here is the sketch I created that I used in this clip.

Paint Class

I just started on some Creative Team work for the upcoming Paint Class at Feeling Scrappy! I am having a lot of fun with my paints already and I've only just begun. This is going to be an amazing class-go check it out on the Feeling Scrappy website. The classes they offer are tons of fun and there's a lot to learn and be challenged by (I've taken three classes there.) The class starts in January so hurry and sign up before it fills up!

Rice Cereal

Abby tried a couple bites of rice cereal today for the first time. She didn't seem to mind it but wasn't begging for more either. LOL.
Here's her reaction-

Layouts

Here's a few pages I made for the Jingle Bell Crop over at Feeling Scrappy. There are 12 challenges posted and you still have time to complete them to earn tickets! They are due by Sunday night and there are some great prizes to be won! www.feelingscrappy.com

Stickers

I will periodically give Joshua some old stickers to play with while I try to get some scrapping done. Sometimes, they end up more on him than on the project he's working on. LOL

Snow!

Second time it's snowed so far this year. But it melted by noon both times. Joshua was so excited to see the snow this morning and got all of his snow gear on to go out and play before breakfast.

Here are a few pictures from Thanksgiving.
My mom and Joshua-

Joshua by his favorite area in the little museum at the hotel we had dinner with my parents and sister.


Jer and his sisters with his dad. It was Tom's birthday and we all pitched in to get him a cool camera.


Our second dinner. Ha ha. Yum.