Happy New Year!

Welcome to 2009! Last year really flew by. I wish that time would slow down a little bit so I could get something accomplished. December was so incredibly busy....busy at the store, six day work weeks, family things and life in general. It was so busy in fact that I didn't even get time to put up a Christmas tree. I put up more than enough at the store so I didn't miss the decorating part though. My sister came home from Arizona for a couple weeks and spent Christmas with us. It was so great to have her home even if for just a short period of time. With the busy schedule that I had last month I didn't get a lot of scrapping done but hope to rectify that this month. Things at work will slow down and we will go back to having two days off a week, yipee! I have to make a note to self, next year I need to be done for Christmas by Thanksgiving, otherwise I might not have time.

So now that it is the second day of January and today is my day off for this week I took some time to get caught up a little bit with my scrapbooking. I made a couple pages of my sister with Christmas Joy by Lori Staton of Deco-Pages. I just love her kit! I especially fell in love with her little elf! How cute it is.

Unfortunately for my sister she got to open up last year's Christmas Present this year...I never did get around to mailing it to her last year. She was tickled with the towels that I made for her. I also made a Calendar for my sisters and grandmother. I used a 2009 calendar kit from Paris Designs of Deco Pages. It actually turned out really well. I used monthly Club Deco Kits from Deco Pages that coordinated with each month. Here is a peek at my February Cover and Calendar page:


I love being a member of Club Deco. Every month I get the coolest kits from the designers there. They have three options of membership: One month so you can try it out and see if you like it (you must be registered on the forum to access this), Three Month Option and a Full Year Option and the prices are really reasonable too! I hope to see you there.

Christmas Kits

I found some wonderful new Christmas Kits over at Deco Pages. I can't believe all the talent that I am so fortunate to enjoy. Carol Rupley has a new kit called Christmas Cabin Fever. What an awesome new kit it is! I love the quilted stars and gingerbread men. Check out what I did with her kit.... I used a template from Michaele Burkhart that she has highlighted in this month's template challenge.
The word art is from Stacey Truman. I just love how this turned out. Love the colors in the kit and everything. Deb Ammerman has a new kit called Shimmery Holiday that is totally awesome as well.
I love the colors that she has chosen for this kit! The blues are wonderful with the golds. Here are some pages that I've made with this kit.... The first one was done for the Lyrics Challenge at Deco Pages, using the lyrics from the song O' Christmas Tree. I love how it turned out with the snowflake background and the non-traditional Christmas Tree element.
Then the second page that I did was a collage of photos from Christmas's past with my mom. This time of year is always nostalgic for me with her being gone.

There are a few other kits that I purchased as well and haven't made anything with yet. The first one is from SherrysScraps called Sparkling Christmas. Love the glittery things in this kit and the traditional colors.
RoseMadeDesigns has a new kit called In A Pear Tree. There are some non-traditional colors in this kit as well and her elements are totally cool! Love her packages and the pear tree element.
Ilona Hamp has a kit called Let It Snow that has the coolest snow men and elements in it as well. While this one is not strictly a Christmas kit, it is something that I can use all winter long! Jen Hanson has a new one called Candyland Christmas that is full of traditional colors and the cutest little elements in it as well. I love her snowglobe with Santa!
Lori Staton has a new one called Christmas Joy. I love the greens in this kit and that cute little elf she has made for it as well as the snow covered Christmas Tree.
It's too bad there isn't more time in a day because there are just so many kits that I can't wait to use. The one thing that I can't buy this year..... Time. lol.

Chilly!!! It sure is chilly today with a temperature of 28 today. Brrr... Today was my day off of work and I wish I could have stayed in the house all day and not even gotten dressed but I took my best friend for her Chemo Therapy treatment and then we stopped for lunch at a local diner. The owner of the diner is a friend of Bobbie's brother and so we had a wonderful lunch! She always fixes something special for us when we stop there. While we were at the diner (which is right next to a creek) I watched the swans and ducks...it was relaxing in itself even though I wasn't at home in my comfies curled up in front of the fire with a good book (which is how I would have loved to spend the day.) So I took some pictures out the window of the diner of the swans. They were kind of far away and the battery was going dead on my camera so it isn't the best picture, but it was good enough to scrap a page with. I used a new kit by Deb Ammerman at Deco Pages called Tattered. This kit is a wonderful kit with feathers, torn edged frames and so much more. Font is 1942 Report.


Afterwards when I was leaving I stopped and took some pictures of the Mallards. I hadn't seen so many gathered at one place at one time ever. It was actually quite a sight! I used the same Tattered kit for this one as I had used for the Creekside Cafe page. I really like the colors and the elements in this kit!


I also made a page with my grandson from a few photos that I took on Thanksgiving. He was riding his battery powered car and he flipped it by accident. How awesome is it that I had the camera and was able to catch the event, including the look on his face. He was so funny! He thought it was the car's fault that he fell and decided to ride the bike after that and not the car. Kit I used for this is Tyler's Toys by Jen Hanson of Deco Pages. I love this kit for Gabe. They are both so cute!

Yeah, well that's enough for today. It's time to curl up with that book!

New Club Deco Kit - Cabin Fever and Challenges

There is a brand new Club Deco kit over at Deco Pages and it is awesome so far. With only part of the designers having submitted their contributions it promises to be a true "Mega" kit. For the month of December the Designing Team has used the theme: Cabin Fever. You can just imagine the colors and elements that are going into this! It's wonderful! Check out this partial preview of what is already available for Club Deco members!


There are new challenges starting this month and the rewards for them are awesome. There are two challenges that have starter kits available free to Club Deco Members or can be purchased in the Deco Pages store for $1.99.

The December Color Challenge is one of these. If you are a Club Deco Member, the kit is free but if you just want to participate in the challenge you can create your pages with the color pallet or purchase the starter kit for $1.99 in the store. Look at this months color challenge starter kit created by Lori Staton! I just love that Santa Face and the Candles! I can't wait to create something with this great starter kit and to see what I create with the color pallet.
Then there is the "New" Scrap by Numbers Challenge hosted by Marcee Fairchild (RoseMadeDesigns). This challenge consists of adding a certain amount of elements to the page as specified in the challenge guidelines. There is a starter kit that is available for this one but it isn't required to use it. This challenge is connected to two other challenges: the Material Girl Challenge and the Holiday Challenge. The rewards for these kits coordinate with the starter kit and reward. Check out the starter kit for these challenges:
I love the non-traditional coloring of this kit! Stop over and check out the Material Girl and Holiday challenges to see the coordinating rewards!

Then there are a ton of other challenges too. I host the Journaling Challenge in the Creative Team Challenges. In this monthly challenge I offer two quick pages created with a kit from one of the design team members. This month the kit is Merry and Bright by Deb Ammerman. All soft and glittery, this kit was wonderful to use. The theme this month is to journal about Traditions. Check out the QP's that I made for the challenge and my Traditions page as well!
I sure miss my Mom and my tradition has yet changed again since my kids have grown up and left home. I have to decorate the tree myself now and am lucky to get it up by Christmas Eve. Lol! Such is life!

I hope that you'll come over and join us this month in the challenges and share some of your experiences and pages with us! Hope to see you there!

It sure Feels Like Winter

Brrr... It sure feels like winter right now with temperatures in the low 30's but at least there's no snow to speak of right now. I can't believe how quickly fall has come and "feels like" gone. All the leaves are down now and with the temperatures below freezing it feels like winter. Brrr... It hasn't been that long ago that my trees looked like the one you'll see in the page below. Believe it or not I took the picture with my camera phone. It is a little LG Rumor phone. Not too bad but my digital camera would have captured the light coming through the leaves better. I used the color challenge kit "Pumpkin Spice" from Dana Conditt and Lorene Hill over at Deco Pages. It's free for Club Deco Members or during the month of November you can purchase it for $1.99.


Here is the preview to the starter kit!


I've really been having fun with the challenges at Deco Pages...when I've actually had time to participate in them. There is a challenge called scrap by numbers which is three seperate challenges and three rewards but it uses one starter kit which you don't have to use but have to have a set number of elements in the pages. The three different challenges are called Scrap By Numbers, Material Girl Challenge and Holiday Challenge. There is an add on kit reward for each challenge that you participate in.

Here is the preview of the starter kit that as a Club Deco Member you can get for free or purchase in the store for $3.00.


This page below is the page that I created for the Material Girl Challenge. The challenge was to use a recipe card and I thought I would mix it up a little by not using an actual recipe...instead creating a recipe for "Love" The journaling reads: 1 cup of enthusiasm, 1 cup of devotion, 1 cup of unselfishness, 1/2 cup of affection, 1 tsp affection, 1 tsp benevolence, a pinch of attachment. Mix together in a heart shaped vessel and bake a lifetime.


This next one is the one that I created for the Scrap by Numbers challenge. There were a list of elements that you could choose 4 from to complete the page. I chose ribbon, metal brad, scalloped edge, and three papers. It was fun to do too! Of course with a subject like my dear grandson, all the challenges are fun for me.

I still have to complete the holiday challenge to complete the three of them. I can't wait to see what I wind up doing....