random reflections

Making a List and Checkin' It Twice

Once again, I seem to be ahead of the game. Many years ago, I was often done with Christmas shopping and wrapping by December 1st. Considering I worked full-time and had two busy kids at home, it was kind of amazing. But it enabled me to slow down in December and enjoy the holidays. Then over time, things slipped back to "normal." But this year I made a list and have been checking things off at a pretty good clip. It helps to be retired!

1. Decide on which cookies to bake. (Done, chose 12 different kinds; I give away a lot of cookies.)
2. Write out menu for Christmas Day. (Done. I host Tracy's family on Christmas; there will be 17 this year. The menu doesn't change much.)
3. Wrap California gifts. (Done.)
4. Mail California gifts. (Done today. It was nice to send them parcel post and know I had plenty of time to get them there by Christmas.)
5. Wrap gifts. (Only two done for here.)
6. Decorate house. (Done.)
7. Inventory baking supplies. (Done.)
8. Shop for baking supplies. (Done, the grocery bill was substantially higher than usual, but I also bought ahead for some entertaining we'll be doing in December.)
9. Make notepads. (Need 5 for gifts; have 3 finished.)
10. Make calendars.
11. Compose and print Christmas letter. (Done; I used the Paislee Press Viewfinder frames for the photos this year and love how the photos came out.)
12. Finish Christmas cards. (All but six are made; the paper I needed to finish arrived on Saturday.)
13. Sign and mail Christmas cards.
14. Clean basement tables so wrapping gifts is possible. (Done; my very least favorite job. Our basement is disgusting--part & parcel of owning an old house.)
15. Finish shopping. (Done, I think; I'm still thinking about changing one gift I purchased for a friend.)

All in all, I'm ready for December. We live in an old house (circa 1930), and it's just perfect at Christmas. The last few nights, I've taken my laptop downstairs and worked in the living room so I can enjoy the tree and the rest of the decorations. After a wonderful November of sunny skies and pretty warm temperatures, it's been too dark and dreary the last couple of days to get good photos, but they're coming.

Last year, one of our porch trees was stolen. We had to buy two replacements so they would match and put the one left on our patio table. This weekend I found a bigger tree, decorated with berries, pinecones, and white lights for 50% off at Michaels. I can see it from our kitchen as well as the dining room, and I just love it. I spend a lot of time in the kitchen in December so I'll probably get more enjoyment from it than anyone else!

 

 

Gifts for California

For the first time ever, Sarah and Adam won't be here for Christmas. I am grateful that it took 29 years before it happened, but I know I am really going to miss them at Christmas. Tonight I got all the gifts wrapped, and one box packed and ready to mail tomorrow. These are the gift card holders I made this afternoon to put in their stockings (one for Matt, too). The cardstock is Scarlet Jewel (Papertrey), the ribbon from Paper Source and all the rest is Making Memories Mistletoe collection. The gift card holder was one Kristina Werner posted on 2Peas last year. I've made lots and lots of them since I first downloaded the pattern. It's quick and easy.

Tradition

For over twenty years we've gone out the weekend after Thanksgiving to cut down our Christmas tree. We always scope out the weather report and try to go on the better of the three days. This year it looked like Friday was the best day. Early in the morning the sun was shining, and it looked very promising. By the time we left, it was cloudy but no rain was expected for another two hours or so according to Weather.com. No such luck. By the time we arrived at Wilbert's, it was raining, cold, and windy. 

Wilbert's was a new tree farm for us, and we were encouraged by the huge size of it. There are six stations where you can pay and quite a nice map of the property. Another nice feature is the cart they provide for carrying the tree in from the field.

 

The bad news was the trees were short (we need at least a 7 foot tree) and many of them were simply ugly. Lots of them were totally brown on the bottom. We trudged through two huge fields before we finally gave up--cold, wet, and discouraged.

There was no way I wanted to go home without a tree. We weren't too far from an old standby, Schoff's Tree Farm. Two years ago, the selection there was slim, and after 15 years or so, Tracy decided we needed to find a new place. But we decided to try again, and we really lucked out. First of all, the weather cleared.

Secondly, Schoff's had just opened a new field of trees and within minutes, we had found a tree the right size and shape.

 

 

While Tracy and Matt were tying the tree on the car . . .

 

I looked around for some photo ops, and found a couple right in front of the van.

 

 

 

On the way home, we stopped at Grossman's Nursery so I could pick up some poinsettias. I loved the door handles here as well.

I've spent most of the day getting the house decorated. It took a couple of trips to the store to find some candles and a tray for the coffee table display. Tracy is putting the lights on the tree tonight. By tomorrow the house should be ready for Christmas. Now to wrapping gifts and getting Christmas cards out.

CPS 143

We had quite the tree search today, but photos from that and Thanksgiving will have to wait a day or two until I have time to get them ready for the blog. On the way home from cutting down the tree, we stopped at Grossman's so I could get some poinsettias. They had beautiful ones, and I also found a new wreath for over the fireplace. Once we were home, I was anxious to start decorating, so photo editing went by the wayside. This card is for the CPS 143 challenge. I needed a card for my BIL's upcoming big birthday so used this sketch.

 

Cardstock (Rustic White  & Enchanted Evening Papertrey Ink), Patterned papers (Basic Grey Granola), stickers (unknown & American Craft), twine (Papertrey Ink), ink (Chamoile Vintage Touch Papertrey Ink), Nestabilities.

Happy Thanksgiving

We'll soon be off to my sister-in-law's for Thanksgiving dinner. Tracy and I were at the gym early this morning in order to work off a few calories before we hit the table. I'm the pie lady for this event. My BIL was gifted an apple pie for today, so this year I only needed to make two: chocolate pecan and pumpkin.

Have a wonderful holiday! 

Papertrey Ink Blog Hop

I've always wanted to participate in the monthly Papertrey Ink Blog Hop, but somehow always put it off to the last minute. This month I got my project done in plenty of time. This month's Blog Hop Challenge was to create a quick & inexpensive wrap or tag that can be the perfect solution for "grab & go" gifts. I've saved all the plastic boxes that my stamps from Papertrey come in thinking they'd make a good package for gifts. Indeed they do! A whole box of Tazo tea fit neatly inside. A simple ribbon and tag complete the gift.

 

 

This steaming cup from the 2008 Holiday Tag Collection was the perfect accompaniment. I used Perfect Pearls and some glitter to emphasize the steam. A quick run through my Cuttlebug with an embossing folder, a holly punch, and three gems complete the tag. Scarlet Jewel cardstock was used with the scalloped punch.

 

Christmas Journal 2009

This year's journal design really started with two 6X6 paper pads I purchased a month or so ago: "Spiceberry" by Memory Box and "Snow and Cedar" by Poppy Stamps. I also have a partial pack of Basic Grey "Waisal". So I decided on a 6X6 album. The only place I could find a 6X6 album locally was Hobby Lobby. I would have preferred a 3-ring album, but they only carried post albums. The red was way too bright as the color scheme for this year is more cranberry and olive than the traditional red and green, so I bought a black album. I had a few ideas about decorating the front, but ended up with something more traditional and formal than usual, and totally unexpected. When I went through my stash of Christmas goodies, I found some felt sticker embellishments that I think are Little Yellow Bicycle. The ribbon I bought this week at AC Moore and the number stickers are Making Memories as is the stick pin. After looking at it for a few hours, I've decided I'm pretty happy with it, even though it is so different than what I envisioned.

 

Here's a close-up of some of the papers. I also have more of the felt stickers which I'll use as they seem appropriate.

Christmas Cards

It was so beautiful here today. We have had just amazing weather for November. I met a friend for lunch and a stamping date. When I left her house, I decided to see how much Christmas shopping I could get done since it was such a nice day. Thus, no Christmas Journal preparation as I chaired our Youth Ministry Committee meeting tonight. But I did get quite a few Christmas cards made while I was stamping with my friend. Over half of what I need was done this fall for various challenges. Sometimes if I liked the design a lot, I would make a couple extra. But now is the time for mass production.

 

Stamp (Papertrey Ink), cardstock (Papertrey New Leaf and Pure Poppy), ribbon (Midori)

And yes, I did get a lot of Christmas shopping done. I need to make one return (I knew that was a possibility), but aside from a couple of internet orders, I think I am done. It's a lot easier buying for adult children.

Journal Your Christmas

This will be my fourth year to participate in Shimelle's Journal Your Christmas class. Yesterday I took down the basket that I set out each Christmas that holds all three previous journals. I looked through each of them and am so glad that I've recorded the events and experiences that make up our holidays each year. I hadn't forgotten that Adam and Sarah got stuck in New Jersey last year and Tracy had to make the six hour trip down to Newark Airport to get them. I had forgotten, however, that when they left to fly back to California, Rochester was experiencing winds up to 60 mph. I'm very sad that they won't be here this year, but traveling during the winter holidays certainly is iffy.

My first album is documented in the side bar of the blog. I thought I'd post a few photos of 2007 and 2008 here so you can get a taste of how different these albums can be. I bought a 6X6 post-bound album at Hobby Lobby yesterday for this years album. I don't do a lot of prep work, since I won't necessarily do a page every day. Between Shimelle's prompts and the prompts from Jessica Sprague's new course Holidays in Hand, I'll have plenty of inspiration. I also subscribe to Ali's blog and get inspiration from her December Daily album.

Here are all three journals:

 

The first two were pretty traditional 8X8 albums. Last year I did an acrylic album which I loved.

Some pages from 2007:

 

 

The apparent blotch on the page is actually my shadow!

 

And from 2008:

 

I had totally forgotten about our stolen tree last year!

 

Some days I did two-page spreads, others were only one page. Although the overall colors stayed pretty consistent if I wanted something different for a page, I didn't worry about it.

 

The back of the Sing page is an envelope that hold a Children's Sermon that was preached during Advent last year. It really spoke to me, and I asked for a copy for the album.

 

This is actually two pages, a Hambly transparency with the title and number on it, overlayed on the photo collage. Hopefully, tomorrow I will have some of this year's journal to share with you. I bought a black album since the only red was too bright for my color scheme this year. I hope to get it decorated tonight or tomorrow.

For Amy & A Tour

Amy left a comment asking how I take photos of my cards. We live in a VERY dark house, lovely, but dark with almost no natural light that allows for good indoor photos. I've tried lots of things, but have been reluctant to invest in a light box for photographing my cards. Recently, however, almost by accident I've come upon a system that is working quite well. My husband bought the wrong florescent light bulbs for our son's room. They were "daylight" bulbs, and Matt hated them. So I switched with him, and it took a bit of getting used to but for indoor and nighttime photography they have been great. I also use a piece of white foamcore board that I bought at Michaels. I cut it about halfway through so it bends in half and use it as the background. Sometimes I put a piece of coordinated cardstock on the back of it, but often I leave it as is. The white board makes color cast correction in PSE really easy. It looks like this:

 

And I get a photo like this:

 

While I was at it, I decided to take some photos of my study. It's a small room which I have crammed with as much stuff as it possible. I'm in desperate need of a major purge again, but I think it will have to wait until after the holidays.

 

My desk is an L-shaped desk I bought at Staples ten years ago. It has held up really well and has a good amount of work space. To the right is a stamp cabinet Tracy built for me nearly 15 years ago. Each shelf holds an acyrlic picture frame with stamps organized by theme.

 

The bookcases came from Target seven or eight years ago when Sarah moved out and I took over this room. The CD holder is from IKEA and houses my acrylic stamp sets as well as CDs.

 

I love my chair from LL Bean. It flips out into a single bed when we need extra space for company.

 

Last year I found this printer's drawer in our garage and refinished it to hold my most used rubber stamps. The table underneath pulls up to counter height when I want to work on a project standing up. I paid $20 for it at IKEA several years ago. It was a great solution for a tiny room. I can't get into my closet when it's pulled up, but it hasn't been a major problem.

 

The closet is small but hold a ton of stuff. The racks on the door and the hanging drawers are both from The Container Store. The two units of drawers underneath came from one of the office supply stores. I have to say I love this space. Until I moved into this room, I shared space with the rest of the family. It was fine, but this is great. It's not big, but we've managed to utilize the space pretty effectively. I do have to admit, however, when I'm in the middle of a big project I end up with stuff all over the floor as well. Usually I'm really neat and organized, but I'm not a neat crafter!