New Beginnings

This is the January Cocoa Daisy kit I was telling you about, lots of Basic Grey Origins, and American crafts Letterbox. Here are my layouts. This first one uses the rub-ons and paper from the add-ons (Happiness and Anticipation respectively), everything else from the main kit.

Since I was inspired by the rub-ons in the title from the first one, I decided to let the rub-ons guide me again! The rub-on is from the add-on Happiness. J was using those binoculars as a camera, running around "shooting" everything making a clicking noise. Where do children get these notions? Darn that tv. :)

This layout is my favorite I think. I love the colors and it really is how I feel right now, very chilly! Some paper is from the add-on Anticipation, the rest is from the main kit. The rub-ons and Pink paislee alphas were from the add-on Happiness.

This layout didn't turn out like I had planned. The JBS calendar is from the add-on Unwritten (however I had it in my stash from the gdt I did for them earlier this month). Everything else is from the main kit except the rub-ons and BG woolies (Happiness). My favorite thing is that card. I thought it looked like a seed packet, so I included it on the page. But it actually says in french that it has syrup of a basket weaver to cure any common ailment. ??? Oh well. It looks pretty. :)

This one is a page that I left half complete that I found when I was cleaning out for the move, eek! For like 2 years! I loved the journaling, so I cut it apart from the half done page. I reprinted the photo and added paper from the main kit and the add-on Anticipation. Then I added those American Crafts Letterbox Pearl brads that I had in my stash (also in the add-on unwritten). The gee is what my son called our dog (as in (do)g-ee). I love that photo of J and the pug. It's one of my very very favorite. Ever. It's moments like this I thank God I'm a scrapper, because even though I was there and saw it, my sleep deprived mind didn't register it. I need the evidence.

This last layout was a last moment edition before I left for the holidays. I had a fight with my printer and the journaling is on the back. The reason I did the notebook spiral punch? It's all I had left after I took a bunch of stuff over to my new house. Necessity. Everything from the main kit except the 'candy cane' alpha (Happiness add-on) and that American crafts Foil Merrymint candy cane I had in my stash. It was just too cute not to add it.

Happy Holidays and Happy new year to all who stop by! I'm too tired to make any resolutions. Does resolving to get all my crap over to the new house come heck or high water (or snow, ice or blizzard) count? I didn't think so. :)

6 Sneaks

Some Cocoa Daisy Jan sneaks for your viewing pleasure:

I only had two days with this kit and I made 6 layouts. Now granted, I was snowed in. :) I did like 3 a night though which is unusual for me. (Normally I work 2 at a time, not 3. I like to go back and forth, when I get stuck on one, I go to the next one.) But it's a really great kit and I love the assortment of Basic Grey Origins clips, buttons, etc. that Cocoa Daisy has put together. I always want to buy all that stuff to go with the paper, but to be able to get just a couple (which is all I'll use out of a pack anyway), genius I think. Happy Holidays and a very Merry Christmas to all who stop by!

PS A big hello to all you new blog followers! I'm glad you are here. :)

JBS guest

Here are some of my layouts for my guest design team spot over at the Jenni Bowlin blog for the month of Dec. Some really fun guest designers over there this month! I know, I am probably the last person I would put with JBS, and I was shocked that Lisa D. asked me. I thought she had eaten too much turkey, had a tryptophan induced coma/passed out, and hit her head and came to with a strange notion. I do really love JBS products though, as is evident by this older layout:

And here are some of the new layouts:

I wrote up a detailed description of each layout and it's on the JBS blog. I'm in a huge hurry to dig out my car today. I did shovel the driveway, but getting 3 ft of snow off the roof is going to be a challenge. I'm running around trying to get everything packed and get some photos of my Cocoa Daisy projects for Jan. I have 6 layouts, thank goodness for the blizzard right? Anyway, I'll get them up as soon as I can, today or tomorrow morning early. Happy Monday and Happy holidays friends!

The weather is here, I wish it were beautiful.

And it shall be beautiful. The only problem with a snow storm is that it's cold. Other than that, I have no problem with it. :) In fact, I'm a little grateful for the snow. It will force me to stop moving for a little bit, and we can just be still for a while. That's what my holiday is missing. The gifts are bought and wrapped. The baking is done. The house is as decorated as it's going to be in the middle of a move (tree and wreath). Now I'm ready for peace and quiet. There is none of that in the middle of moving to a new home.

On my mind:

1. This is my last move for a good long while. We are supposed to be here until my dh retires, please God let that be true.

2. My little Christmas tree. It's not much and with the unbreakable ornaments it's kind of tacky, but it's mine. And I like how the lights twinkle at night. And it especially tickles me that J plugs it in sometimes.

3. This new kit from Cocoa Daisy, a mixture of Basic Grey Origins and American Crafts Letterbox. No peeks just yet, still waiting for it to arrive. I think it's caught up in the holiday packages.

4. This too shall pass. All really difficult and soul trying times do eventually pass. Moving is really hard.

5. One more load. When I feel like giving up and giving in and throwing everything on the sidewalk I say, one more load. Just one more load. It gets me through until tomorrow anyway.

6. Making my own Christmas tags. I did, I made them all. I'll show you photos in a little bit, when I have a chance. I don't want J to see, some of them are from Santa.

7. The gift of giving. I say you've been pretty good this year and I left you a present here. It won't be there until Friday (I think), but I'm sure you can find pretty things to pass the time there until then. :)

Will be enjoying the weather enormously all weekend, as it is impossible to move my crap in a foot of snow. Happy Friday! Until tomorrow.

You, you don't really want to stay no but You, you don't really wanna go, oh

On any given day, I'm hot n' cold about this moving thing. (Mostly cold with our most recent snow storm). One moment I'm sad thinking about how many memories we have made here, how great the neighbors are, and how it's taken me nearly 2 years to make friends. Then the aggravation of dealing with the rental company and their myriad of ridiculous rules kicks in and I just can't wait to go. I just get comfortable with a situation and then the new freaks me out. But me and this rental house? This is an abusive relationship. I've given a whole lot more than I have gotten in return. It's time to part ways. I have a dog-like personality I guess, loyal until the bitter end. Speaking of which, not sure what this means:

Guess he's ready to go. I should take that hint. :)

I've been busy cleaning the new house, and packing up the old house. I'm moving the slow painful way across town, a couple boxes at a time. I'll still be doing this in Jan, long after you are shaking your head going "Is she ever going to be done moving?" Yep, it's like a root canal for me too. :)

So what am I up to other than that? Well, I've made the starling discovery that I love crafting more than blogging. Don't get me wrong, I like reading your blogs. But writing mine has become a chore. I'm going to try out a new format in the future, we'll see how it goes.

On Scrapping: Presently, I just finished 4 layouts for a guest DT position. I will have a layout up on the American crafts blog at the end of the month, around the 28th, I think? I made my digital Christmas cards, waiting for them to arrive. And I am waiting for a cardstock refill and the new Cocoa Daisy kit. Thinking of starting a project for J, trying to find time to make that happen. Wondering how/when to move my scraproom. Thinking about storage. American crafts has busted my storage system. Before I made the team I had 15 packs of thickers to my name. Now, 6 times that. Yikes! How do you store your thickers?

On my mind: Moving. Moving. Moving. Did I mention moving?

Driving me nuts: Sales people. Especially sales people who are like "I'm not a sale's person, I'm not pushy like that." Maybe it's time to dust your resume off then, just saying because that doesn't make me want to buy anything.

Still makes me laugh: This conversation overheard by me at my parents house: (My sister, mom and dad all work for the government and the day before thanksgiving my sister got a 4 hour release.)

My sister: We are getting off 4 hours early release!

My mom: We aren't getting any time off.

My sister: Why not?

My mom: We don't get time off/early release unless there is threat of bodily harm.

My dad: I'm bored to death, does that count?

I'm supposed to do what???: I've made so many lists it's not even funny. I get to check things off on five different pages when I do something for the move. Gratifying or terrifying, hard to say.

Happy Monday! Until tomorrow (or the next day, or the next day). :)