random reflections

Christmas Journal: Part 3

I finished culling and editing all the photos from Christmas yesteday so now I can get busy and finish up the last few pages of this journal. If I get a good photo from our small gathering at friend's for the New Year, I'll add that too. Usually I get busy enjoying myself and totall forget to take any pictures. Here are the next pages of the Christmas Journal.

This year's page about shopping, three-quarters or more was done online. The packages on the right were the ones I mailed to Oregon although many of those went directly from the company. Sarah wrapped Adam's and he wrapped hers. 

This month's Take Twelve layout. In the journaling I reflected on the two photography projects I took on this year:  Take Twelve and Capture Your 365. I'm not sure I'll do Take Twelve again, but I'm definitely planning on continuing with Capture Your 365. I'll still trying to decide how to document that in 2013. I'm not going to do the Ali Edward calendars again.

A three-page spread of photos of Betsy and Skylar who came to dinner that night.

This year's entry on baking. Some topics do seem to get repeated because I have something new to say about them. I wasn't sure I'd like this Starbuck cup cozy as a journaling spot but it worked out well.

The hardest thing about Christmas this year was being so far away from Caleb! Yesterday was his first birthday, and we did Face Time twice, once for the requisite cupcake, and one for opening presents. Here's the card I sent him.

And one last photo for the folks who were so surprised to hear we had a snowblower. Almost everyone on our street owns one, although not everyone has a driveway as steep as ours. As you can see, the snow can only be put on the right side of the driveway because of the stone retaining wall. It's not that we don't also use a shovel, but we've never tried to do the driveway without the snow blower when we've had a big snow. It's a pretty long endeavor, even then.

Have a Happy New Year, how ever you celebrate. I'm just as happy at home, but this year we're going to some friend's for a small gathering. I'll be back with more Christmas Journal, but first with some thoughts about the New Year. 

Christmas Journal: Part 2

Creating the pages for my Christmas Journal took quite a bit longer than I expected. I love the divided pages and options available by using the Simple Stories album, but it takes a lot of forethought so the pages all go together in the end. I'm very happy with how it's turned out, but I did think I'd be posting pages as I went along. I still have Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and one other page I want to do. I'll post a few pages each day until I've shared them all. Days 1-3 are here.  And the cover and prep pages are here.

I wasn't sure what I wanted to do for the title page. Then I found this design on the Silhouette site and die cut the numbers with the Typewriter dies by Memory Box.

I don't attempt to do a December Daily so you won't find pages for each day in December. This spread is about this year's Christmas cards and the family letter I sent to out-of-town friends.

The annual spread on Christmas decorations.

Last year I included a calendar and I loved having a record of all we did in December. I still need to finish writing in the activites since I took this photo.

My friend, Nancy, and I spent a lovely afternoon at two gallery shows and lunch out. This photo was taken at the Memorial Art Gallery in their atrium.

Hope you have a great weekend. We have a very quiet one here. I'm looking forward to some reading, purging, and learning new software!

A Bit of Snow

We had an exceptionally mild November and December, but yesterday we began to catch up with the average snowfall amount. We got about 9-10 inches overnight, and it was truly beautiful this morning. There wasn't as much wind or blowing snow, so although travel wasn't great, it wasn't as treacherous as they predicted. Matt flew out of Rochester just ahead of the storm, and made it to Denver with about an hour's delay in Atlanta. All in all, his travel was a nonevent---thank goodness!

I always have a urge to purge right after the holidays, so I spent the day sorting through a very large pile of articles that has accumulated over the fall. Now I'm trying to decide how to file the ones I do want to keep---and a system for knowing how to find them. Anyone have a systemt that works for them? I'd love to hear about it.

The only time I ventured out was to take a few photos and to put the cards I made into the mail box. Our birdfeeders got very attractive caps in the snow.

This was the front walk after Tracy's first pass with the snowblower.

I liked the patterns the snow made on our glider.

But my favorite was the railings on the front porch. The pattern reminded me of Frank Lloyd Wright designs.

And for fun, I hung an ornament in our Korean Pear tree. I think I could have used a narrower aperture, but I like the red against the white.

I finally have photographed all the pages I've completed of the Christmas Journal, so I'll be back soon with the first of them. Still have three days left to do.

 

Papertrey Ink December Blog Hop Challenge

It's time for the December Blog Hop at Papertrey Ink, and the inspiration piece is lovely.

White on white always appeals to me, and with our first snow cover of the year, and a winter storm watch for tonight and tomorrow, it's most appropriate. In addition to the white on white, I kept with the snow image as well.

I started with Select White cardstock, and embossed a background paenel with the Diamonds Impression Plate. For the focal point, I die cut one of the Doily Details, punched two snowflakes with my Marvy punches, and added a Hero Arts pearl. The sentiment is from Happy Trails, a set I don't use often enough, stamped onto one of the  Double Ended Banner die cuts. There's sure to be lots of inspiration here!

Merry Christmas!

 

Christmas Blessings to all! I finally caught up with my Christmas Journal yesterday, and gave thought to posting some of it here today, but there are too many little details left to do before dinner here tomorrow. Matt arrived safely from Denver, there's a bit of snow on the ground, and we are almost ready to celebrate! Have a wonderful holiday! As always, I'll look forward to hearing about yours soon.

Silhouette for Christmas

One of the best perks of having been on a design team was the opportunity to purchase things at wholesale. I know I never would have bought a Silhouette at full price, but I keep it on my desk and love what it can do. Last night I whipped up a couple of Thank You notes (not yet photographed), but earlier I made a couple cards and a little box. The first card is cased from a Silhouette Blog post. It can't be easily mailed, but it was hand delivered yesterday with a bag of candy.

I used scraps laying on my desk for red and green (Papertrey Ink New Leaf patterned paper.) The tag is from an office supply store, and the little candy candy with Stickles is from Papertrey's "Tiny Treats: Christmas."

I love this card, but realized that there's no room for a message or enclosure if you want the brown to show through. I solved the problem by creating an inside flap of the same brown that lifts up to disclose the message.

And finally, a little box I made to hold one of Sarah's gifts. More New Leaf patterned paper for the circles, and the tag is from Papertrey's "Christmas Countdown" set I purchased for my Christmas Journal this year. (Yes, I'm still working on my Christmas Journal in a not very chronological manner, so I may not post the pages until after the holiday. There have been some challenges with the Simple Stories album, though I love the end result.)

Hope you have a great weekend! Hard to believe it's the last one before Christmas. Matt is scheduled to arrived a little after midnight, and I have my fingers crossed that he'll make his connection and get here on time. We have friends coming for dinner which should help me stay awake until we need to get to the airport.

Drawn Together

 

I've spent the last six days praying for the survivors of the Newtown, CT tragedy and wondering what I could do that would be meaningful aside from urging my Representatives and Senators to pass gun control legislation and look for ways to fund better mental health counseling. This morning I found it on Amber Kemp-Gerstel's blog "Damask Love." Please take time to read her blog post, and to contribute in any way that seems appropriate to you. Just sending a card to be included with the kits would be a wonderful contribution.

FMM: Christmas Questions

Rinda posted a list of Christmas questions on her blog that originated with The BoysMum2Blog and is sponsored by the All the Weigh blog. I’ve been off the computer for nearly a week except to answer important emails, and this seemed like the perfect way to get back to blogging. (Think this will be the next entry in my Christmas Journal, which is coming along, although I’m still not up-to-date.)

Christmas Questions 

1. How will you celebrate the holidays this year? This year Matt will be here for five days over Christmas, so Christmas morning will seem more like the old days. We’ll go out to dinner on Christmas Eve, and then to the 11:00 service at church. On Christmas Day, Tracy’s family will arrive for dinner at 4:00. This year we’ll be twenty strong. It’s always a day of laughter and fun!

2. What’s the weather currently like where you live?  This year it’s been warmer (40’s-50’s), but lots of rain and gray skies. There’s a storm headed our way later this week, so there’s a chance we’ll have snow by Christmas. It looks like the storm will pass through Denver and not quite here when Matt is traveling. I hope that part of the forecast is correct.

3. Do you decorate your home for the holidays? If so, share a picture please!  I love to decorate my house for Christmas and it looks so festive even though I put out fewer decorations every year.

4. What’s your favorite Christmas movie? We’re not big movie watchers, but we used to watch Christmas at Sesame Street every year, even when the kids got older. I know Sarah has a copy ready to share with Caleb.

5. What is your favorite Christmas song? I love singing carols, and my favorite is “Once in Royal David’s City” which is always the first carol sung at the Christmas Eve service.

6. Do you have an advent calendar? I made this advent calendar when Sarah was two years old. We’ve hung it now for 30 years. (And a sneak peek at some new photos of Skylar who was here for dinner on Friday.)

7. Do you prefer colored lights or white lights? We have colored lights. The first year Sarah lived in an apartment Matt, Tracy and I decided to give white lights a try. I’m the only one who liked them, and Sarah threatened to boycott Christmas. (An idle threat, I might add.) Here's a shot of some star bokeh I took for the Twelve Days of Christmas class. I'm sure they'd be beautiful in white as well.

8. What is your favorite food to eat over the holidays? We bake lots of cookies, but the food I look forward to the most are the roasted vegetables my sister-in-law brings to Christmas dinner, and the cheesy potatoes Tracy’s cousin brings. 

9. Do you display a live tree, or do you prefer fake trees? We always have a live tree. All the years that the kids were in town, we cut ours down, and made a day of it. Now that’s we’re on our own, we’ve started buying a pre-cut tree. This year’s is beautiful, but getting the tree is not as much fun as it used to be.

10. What would you need to make your holiday perfect his year? I know I’ll have a fabulous holiday, but it would be even more perfect if we could visit Oregon for a few days and spend some time with Sarah, Adam, and Caleb.

I'll be around to get caught up on all the blogs later this week!

 

 

 

Ten on the Tenth: Photos from Twelve Days of Christmas

I'm really enjoying the Twelve Days of Christmas prompts in Cheryl Johnson's class. I still have several assignments to complete. Waiting for some willing subjects to appear, and for the rain to subside. But here are ten:

Here's the most recent one, although late for the prompt which was "Party, Party." It doesn't match the assignment exactly since Cheryl was looking for somewhat goofy group shots, but it seemed to fit the mood. We bought new bows for our outdoor wreaths, and Tracy held it up and said, "You ought to take this for your Photo-of-the-day." Done!

These were taken for the "Reflection" prompt. I like the first one because I captured both of us in the photo.

My "festive self-portrait."

Another self-portrait shot, that could have been used for today's "Reflection" prompt.

Two of the shots for the White Balance exercise. The one on the right is truest to the actual color, but the one with the flash was a favorite of several people who commented on the forum. If I use a flash, I rarely use the pop-up but will use the external flash Tracy bought me a few years ago.

The tag was created for the "Spell It Out" prompt and I photographed it with the dies I used to create it.

And, finally, three photos from the "Festive Photo Walk" that I didn't include in my Christmas Journal.

I'm enjoying this class, and hope to get out soon to take some photos of Christmas lights at night. I'd like it to stop raining, and hope it doesn't get too cold. (Wishful thinking.)

Happy Birthday!!

Today's my brother's birthday. Last year, he came up for a visit shortly after his birthday, but this year we had to "celebrate" over the phone. Here's the birthday card I sent him.

I "cased" it from this card, with just a few changes. I used one of Papertrey's Edger dies and added some Washi tape. I sent an almost duplicate card to Tracy's brother, Greg, earlier this month. The patterned paper is Studio Calico, the star die and stamp from Star Prints (Papertrey), and the sentiment from Paper Smooches. I think this is a pretty good "masculine" design.

Here's another birthday card I sent my nephew earlier. 

I made this one from scraps left over after I finished the card here, and I like it almost as much.

It's been a wild week---lots of volunteer commitments, committee meetings, and events. Today after church, a friend and I took time to visit the Image City Photography Gallery for their Holiday Show, and then the contemporary Native Peoples exhibit at the Memorial Art Gallery. Both were well worth our time. Hope you had a good weekend!