All I Want For Christmas

Hottie and I decided that this is a year we will not be giving gifts to each other. It is a big year for our kids and we now have 10 nieces and nephew to buy for as well. So we are out of luck. :) But that's not stopping me from passing on a little advice to my lovely blog readers. It's something that has worked really well for me in the past....

There is this moment when you are asked what your little heart desires for Christmas. Isn't it kinda awkward to try to explain what you really want? It makes me uncomfortable for some reason. In the past I failed to ask for what I really hoped for. Here is my solution....

1. Utilize online shopping...use your favorite website to create a "wish list" and tell him that you would love anything off of that. This way he can pick one or two things. (Or maybe even the WHOLE thing. Ha! Wouldn't that be nice?) Here are a couple of looks at mine...

See? It can act as a sort of registry. Plus I find that it is much easier for my husband to shop online for these things then going into a store.

2. Make technology your friend...If I desire specific stocking stuffers (think mascara and other make up that I can actually use instead of candy or something else) I will make the effort to take photos of items out of one store. Then I text them to my "Santa." All he has to do is take his phone in and go down the aisle looking for the items. Done and done.

3. If there is something you REALLY, REALLY, REALLY want (but just can't bring yourself to ask for it because this is a year that you said you would not get each other gifts for very reasonable reasons), write a blog about.  Just to see what happens  ;) Like, maybe you read Amy Tangerine's post about the pivi printer and have heard about it before and now you are wanting one so bad you could scream (and you swear you would use it for a million things...but not too often cuz the film is a bit pricey...). (Maybe he'll remember the idea for Valentine's day?) :)

So that's it. Those are my tips to successful gift getting this holiday season. Enjoy and good luck. I hope you all get what you "ask" for and not a big lump of coal like I probably will after this shameless blog post. hee hee. Happy Holidays...

In the Spirit

I was finally bit by the Christmas bug....nothing like 15 days left to do the trick. Sometimes going through photos and layouts of past years does the trick even more than putting up decor does for me.

Here are some I stumbled across...

 "Christmas Eve"

"Merry Christmas" was featured on the Club CK gallery highlights last year. I scraplifted from the very talented Suzy Plantamura out of a December issue of Creating Keepsakes. Love layouts that have tons of photos....

"Back in the Day"

Old photo highlighted. I was lucky to have the chance in childhood to actually hike in the mountains in and find the "perfect" tree. So many cool memories of dragging the tree down the mountain and freezing to death (or what felt like freezing to a five year old).

"The Best Part of Christmas"

This is my favorite photo from last year. It was taken on Christmas morning before any gifts were opened. You can see the twinkle in the kids eyes. Excitement. Joy. Anticipation. (Well, except for Evareaux, she had no idea what to expect.) It's quite possibly the only day of the year that these kids hug each other so tight....

Now that's the spirit.

This year I have managed my expectations for projects I'd like to do. Sometimes I have to stop myself from being like Buddy in the movie "ELF."

The plan is:

*Get a Tree and decorate (TONS of glitter and shiny goodness.)

*Giant Wreath

*Outside Lights-Griswald style

*Pretty Pretty Packages tied up with string

*Record info/photos for December Daily to make later :(

*Christmas Cookies (Bake and Decorate)

*Home made Caramels

*Gingerbread Houses

*Watch lots of Christmas Movies

*Teach the Kids some Christmas Carols

*Car ride to see the Local Lights

*Disneyland at Christmas time

*Visit Santa

Happy

It's moments like these that make it easy to be her Mom...

She is just so darn happy all of the time. I love that.

It makes me happy to document her life via scrapbooking. Happy to show off adorable photos of her on the way to ballet, holding happily onto her Daddy's hand (he is happy to be her favorite person).

And happy that this inspires me to do things creatively like blending mists and layering the most delicious trims....

Happy to be happy. This stuff is really contagious.

Smash-tacular

Hey y'all, my pages made it onto the Smash Blog this week. Cool, huh? I love checking out this blog to see what everyone else is up to with their books. As I have said before, the possibilities are endless....and I am still smashing whenever my busy schedule allows (Not nearly as much as I would like to though!).

Maybe Santa will hook me up with a couple of more Smash supplies....date stamp? retro journal? tape? more pens? Santa can you hear me?  Well if not I am still planning to give these out to a couple of very special people. So, maybe the gift karma will come back around. :) Here's to hoping.

Before and After *Edited*

On 11/11/11 I showed you a snapshot of what I was doing. I thought it would be fun to show you how it turned out.

Before...

*****EDITED*****

This layout was removed for publication.

Toot Toot!

The One That Got Away

So I was out shopping last night (after all it IS December and I will now squeeze micro shopping trips in every chance I get). I found this gem...

Too bad I was not, I repeat, NOT shopping for myself. :( And this apothecary chest had a price tag of  $70. :( Now, I have two confessions to make. One: I am SUPER cheap. And by cheap I mean thrifty, or bargain driven, or whatever you want to call it. I rarely pay full price for anything. (Not that this was full price, it was "compared at" for $120...but still, seventy bucks is seventy bucks.) Two: I have a weakness for apothecary drawers and jars. 

I could envision this chest on the wall of my scrap space (I almost called it a scrap room...Hottie would laugh because really it's our bedroom but it probably feels like it's turning into the scrap room...hey, one day. ONE DAY!) Even though I carried it around the store and pulled the drawers in and out and dreamed of painting of spray painting possibilities swooning my heart out.....I walked away without it. Now it may forever live in my mind as the one that got away. Honestly, if it would have been $40 I would have bought it. But, alas, I am too cheap.

Let me show you around my current bed*ahem*scraproom...

 See? Wouldn't that chest look great on the wall? I'd just have to move the houses out of the neighborhood....relocate the spice rack....hmmm. Maybe it's better that I didn't get it. This would have taken a lot of work.

Here's a closer look....

I hang up new embellishments and such or products that I am super duper excited to use. I keep all of my pens, rulers, and scissors, etc. within reach. I think I like the jars so much for this reason too. Easy access and my supplies can be viewed easily.

I also keep close some current photos or the "must scrap" stack so I feel inspired to create...

 They have a perfect spot tucked away inside this drawer...

Underneath the desk is this drawer unit from Ikea...

 It houses most of my paper and tons of embellishments and tools...

Usually my drawers are a lot more organized so that I can find things easily. But I have been scrapping a ton lately and so after a layout is done and I record the products used I slide them onto the top. That way I can deal with it later as I find time. (Or never, since it's in a drawer and out of sight out of mind.):) You know, whatever works.

Even my letters drawer is a mess right now...

Next to that (I can't believe I am showing this because it's a cluttered eye sore)...

The 12x12 shelving is the perfect size for keeping my scrapbooks, albums, and paper upright. After I print out my photos I pull out the best of the best and then sort the others and put them in albums. If I end up needing to scrap a certain season or event I can find it in one of those without having to sift through piles of snapshots. 

Lastly (well, not really because as I am writing this I realized that my supplies have also begun to take over my closet as well. Oops.) this chest that is also from Ikea (desk. extension. drawers. IKEA!)...

 Trim and ribbon galore...

 Punches...

So that's it. Do you think the one that got away would have fit in with my lifestyle? I dunno. $70? So high maintenance. Oh well, I guess it wasn't meant to be. I'll have to just appreciate the storage I do have and move on with my life. *sigh*  ;)

Shooting Two Ways

We are having a lot of fun with the Photobooth app on my iphone lately...

We also turn the camera around (a button on the screen of the iphone that flips the camera towards you) for self portraits that I edit using Instagram ...

They are often not the most flattering of photographs. The angles are funny, I look tired, we often are dirty and countless other problems....but I DON'T CARE. Doing these silly snapshots is usually the highlight of my day. It gives us a quick break from the craziness to just be big goofballs together. The kids crowd closer and closer to the camera jockey-ing for position. It's hilarious. Really. Maybe one of these days I will video this event.

This is also a great way to get current shots of Evareaux. Typically this two and a half year old is too fast and busy for the camera. But she will do a photo shoot for days once I turn the camera around for her to see. Then I get all kinds of gems like these...

So what if they are not the best quality photos. They are so perfectly her right now...hair a hot mess, Minnie representing, being silly, making faces, giggling and making us giggle right along with her. She's probably not even wearing pants! (this kid is perpetually in a diaper with no pants in sight! :). 

Now I have a way to get some photos that make me smile ear to ear on a regular basis....

and it allows me to get in the mix once and awhile too!