random reflections

Papertrey Ink December Blog Hop

The challenge for December's blog hop was perfectly timed:  Tied Up with String. The challenge was to use your papercrafting supplies to make a tag, decorate a package. I didn't use string on many of the packages, because I'm a ribbon girl at Christmas.

I started out with Papertrey's Notched Star banners and created two tags in a silver/gold combination. The first I paired with gold (almost kraft) paper. I have no idea where I got it, but I'd love to find some more. I added Sarah's initials to this tag.

I made a second tag and added it to a much more elegant package for my mother-in-law.

Then a couple of packages for guys, using the feather die from Simon Says and sentiments from Rustic Wreath (Papertrey) and Avery Elle's Winter Wreath. (And finally, a package tied up with string.)

I used Winter Wreath again to create this package for Sarah, using a chipboard sticker for her initial.

These tags were die cut with Papertrey's Tag Sale #8. The die cut, "Be," is from Simon Says, and the Merry is from Reverse Confetti, with a Holly Jolly die from Papertrey.

Another package for a guy, the tag was created with Thickers and a sticker from Michaels. 

And finally a little bag for my new daughter-in-law, created with the Double-ended Banner by Papertrey Ink with a sentiment from Rustic Wreath and some rhinestones from Michael's. The snowflake die cut is by Memory Box.

I had a great time wrapping this year. Almost every gift had a handmade tag. Before the holiday I purchased a large roll of kraft wrapping paper with a paper holder/cutter from Crate and Barrel. I love how festive kraft can look when you add real ribbons and bright tags to the package. I'm also linking these to the Scrapbook Circle Gift Wrap Challenge.

I expect to be away from the computer the better part of the next two weeks. We leave later today for Chicago and time to celebrate with Sarah, Adam, and Caleb. When we return, we'll be here just one day before heading off to drive Tracy's mother's van to Florida for her. We'll be back mid-January, and I'll be really ready to get caught up with my Christmas Journal (finally started, but hardly finished!) and to settle in with a few quiet weeks at home. I hope to keep up with some blog reading, but commenting may fall by the wayside while I'm away. 

Happiest of Holidays

May your holidays be Merry & Bright! Merry Christmas from snowy Rochester!

Ornaments and Decorations

Our house has been decorated for some time, but I didn't want to post any photos until my ornaments from Missus Wookie arrived. I actually received them over a week ago, but haven't had a chance to take good photos. Miriam's lovely ornament swap was such fun. Then, as luck would have it, another package from across the pond arrived this week from Miriam herself with another delightful ornament for the tree. But, nonethess, the linky to the ornament swap is now expired! With the wedding and travel being behind is to be expected.

Better late than never, here are the gorgeous beeswax ornaments made by Missus Wookie.

And because the gorgeous detail doesn't show well in the tree photos, here's a closer look.

They are stunning, and we've never had anything like them. I am equally fond of this darling button tree sent by Miriam.

They'll be treasured each year as they will remind me, once again, how blessed I am to be a part of such a lovely blogging community.

While I'm here I thought I'd share a few of the new Christmas decorations around here. The biggest one is our tree. For the first time ever, we purchased an artificial tree. This was not an easy decision, but since we'll be leaving the day after Christmas to visit Sarah, and then driving Tracy's mother's van to Florida having a real tree just seems silly. This way I don't have to put everything away before I leave, which seems like an overwhelming task. I'm actually quite fond of the tree, though Sarah was quite disappointed in us!

When we visited the Biltmore Estate in October I picked up another new ornament for our tree. Our tree is filled with ornaments we've picked up on vacations over the years. It's always fun to unpack them each year, and remember all the great places we've visitied.

I also bought this gorgeous snow globe at the Biltmore. It's also a music box that plays "Jingle Bells." Both Skylar and Caleb are entranced by it.

Thanks to a photo on Pinterest, I decided to put out my old typewriter in our front hall. Of all our decorations this year, this one generates the most comments and stories.

 

My to-do list is winding down. I still have some packages to wrap, and one more cookie recipe to try, but we're in good shape for Christmas Day when we're expecting 25 for dinner. How's it going at your house?

 

 

Snowy Thanks

We woke up to 3° this morning, and another inch or two of snow. Snow must be on the mind of the challenge creators this week.

 

 

I needed a thank you card, and when I finished it I do believe it qualifies for six separate challenges:

 

 

 

I started with my favorite sketch challenge: CAS(E) this Sketch.

 

It's definitely Clean and Simple and there are snowflakes.

 

 

I love CAS-UAL Fridays challenge site, and here's the snowy reference.

 

And then there are the two Simon Says Challenges. Wednesday's is "Let It Snow," and Monday's is "Use a Stamp."

 

I pulled out my shimmer card stock for this one: both blue and white, so the colors and snowflake also match the inspiration piece for the Case Study challenge.

 

Finally, here's the card.

 

In the detail photo at the top of the post, you can see the beautiful textured silver paper I picked up yesterday at Michael's. I wish I'd bought more than one sheet. I stamped the snowflakes from Wplus9's Folk Art Flurries and embossed them with Winter Wonderand embossing powder. The die cut "Thanks" is from Simon Says.

 

Hope it's a bit warmer where you are. I'm off to have a cup of soup, and get busy baking cookies!

Whirlwind

It’s been twelve days since I’ve had time to write a blog post, but I think you’ll understand why when you see what’s been going on around here. I flew off to Chicago on December 5th to spend a weekend with Sarah, Adam, and Caleb. 

While I was there Tracy sent a Polar Express G-gauge model railroad train to Caleb to go around his Christmas tree. Matt was never much interested in trains, but Caleb loves them. Here’s a photo of Caleb “talking” to Grandpa on Face Time after he’s seen the train first thing in the morning.

He was smitten from the first go-around.

Caleb got a new haircut, we made cookies, read books, went to church and an Advent luncheon, and most important, went to visit Santa Claus.

My flight on Monday was cancelled, so I won an extra day in Chicago, but had to fly into Buffalo on Tuesday. Tracy didn’t mind driving to pick me up, and we got home just as another snow storm hit the area. I had just two days to get ready for the next big event:  Matt and Betsy’s wedding! 

Friday afternoon, Sarah, Adam, and Caleb arrived here so Adam could officiate at the wedding. I hosted the non-rehearsal dinner for both families on Friday night. I was too busy to take photos, but here’s a shot of the cheesecake on the table before I put it in the fridge. 

Matt and Betsy decided to get married about six weeks ago, and didn’t want to wait until after the holidays. They planned the perfect immediate family-only wedding at the lovely Strathallan Hotel. The wedding took place on the ninth floor overlooking the city of Rochester. I’m sure the photographer will have better photos, but I couldn’t resist taking my camera along.

It was Adam’s first wedding ceremony, and his words on love and marriage were thoughtful and so appropriate.

Because it was just family, Caleb and Skylar were able to sit quietly and color during the ceremony.

Here are some of my faves:

Matt with his grandmother

Sarah and Caleb

Matt and his dad

Following the ceremony, we all sat down to a lovely and delicious brunch. I don’t have any photos of the meal, but the centerpieces were beautiful.

Sarah, Adam, and Caleb’s flight home was cancelled, rescheduled, and cancelled again. Ah, the joys of winter travel. They finally got off around noon yesterday, but it gave us another morning together, and Caleb time to play with some new toys.

 

It’s just a little over a week until Christmas Day! Still on the list to do: wrap gifts, bake cookies, and get ready for the family dinner on Christmas Day. My calendar is filled with social events this week:  bridge, lunch and breakfast out with friends, a committee meeting followed by dinner, and dinner here with good friends on both Tuesday and Saturday nights. But that's the stuff that's most important---being with friends and family. The Christmas Journal (I'm keeping up with the journaling) and the blog can wait until there are a few free moments. 

Project Life: October

My goal is to complete the month's pages for Project Life by the end of the following month, and I managed to get these done before the calendar turned to December. But not edited nor posted. After all these years, you'd think I'd know that all the holiday preparation takes longer than you anticipate. I'm off to visit Sarah, Adam, and Caleb tomorrow evening for a long weekend, and can't wait to put my arms around all of them. Being away, however, means the to-do list for the holidays is a bit longer than usual right now. Today I have nothing on the calendar except a needed trip to the gym, so I'm finally able to post these pages, and perhaps get a start on November's pages. I'm planning to do my Christmas Journal in my Project Life album this year, and I'm already working on that bit by bit.

I tried a new technique to photograph these pages, lining up the photos and cards on top of the page protectors. It definitely takes care of the glare, but I see now that not everything was lined up as perfectly as I would have liked. 

October was a full month with trips to Niagara-on-the-Lake with our friends, Karen and Mike as well as the extended road trip to Florida for Rachel and Juan's wedding. 

It was truly a blessing this year to have a weekend with Karen and Mike. Although quite a bit thinner, Mike continues to do exceptionally well. There are a few side effects left from the multiple surgeries and attachments to life-saving machinery, but he is doing great. I used a Katie Pertiet digital quote on the photo of Karen and Mike, stained a Studio Calico wood veneer piece, and added some word stickers to some of the cards and photos.

On our way to Florida we spent one night in Savannah, GA, visited Tybee Island (not much there to recommend other than the beach and a lovely lighthouse), and had dinner at a fabulous restaurant on the saltwater flats. Our destination was the Boca Raton Resort where Rachel and Juan had arranged a wonderful package for the wedding guests. I put one of my favorite Instagram photos on a 4X6 template, added a banner with a tiny staple, and some more wood veneer. Taking a cue from Melissa who does such a great job of incorporating memorabilia into her layouts, I made a pocket card to hold business cards from some of the restaurants we ate in while traveling.

I cut apart a map we picked up to make the title card for this page, and used some A Muse pearls to mark the places we visited in Florida.

The wedding, of course, was the highlight of the trip. I only had my iPhone with me for the reception, but captured a good photo of the bride and groom, the maid of honor (Rachel's sister, Sarah), and our friend, Lindsey and her family. Lindsey is a Presbyterian minister and a church friend of both Rachel and Sarah. She delivered a wonderful homily at the wedding.  I kept the elegant door key from the resort and included a few photos from it as well. Instead of doing a journaling card, I cut the cover from the wedding program, and tied a thin silver thread around it. (The photos, fortunately, are much sharper IRL than they appear here.)

On Monday after the wedding, we spent the morning taking an architectural tour of the Art Deco buildings in Miami Beach. I combined the journaling with a photo of the Versace mansion, the only stop on the tour that was not in Art Deco style. We were surprised to hear that it is the third most photographed home in the United States, probably because Versace was gunned down on the steps of his mansion by an assassin.

Next stop, Key West. It was HOT and humid, but way more fun than we expected since Fantasy Fest was beginning. 

On our way to visit friends in Charlotte, we drove across the Everglades to the west coast of Florida. We stopped for a ranger's walking tour, and at the smallest post office in the United States. We didn't have time for an air boat ride in the Everglades, but hope to cross that off our list in January when we're visiting with Tracy's mom. I loved the official Everglades sticker, and knew it would make a good title card for this page.

Recently, I watched part of a three day live video conference with Becky Higgins, and learned about the smaller Project Life page protectors. They were easy to pick up at Michael's with the weekly coupon, and proved to be perfect for the last two pages where I had fewer photos. Our friends in Charlotte proposed a trip to Asheville to visit the Biltmore Estate. I'd had an opportunity to do that many years ago, but passed since tickets are quite expensive. But I can tell you now, it's worth the money. We spent the whole day there, and didn't see all we'd like to have seen. Sadly, no photographs are allowed inside the house. On both of the last pages I used a Cathy Zielske "Labeled Photo Sets" to add two photos in one 6X4 slot.

Finally, I couldn't leave October without some Halloween photos of my grandchildren as well as two faves their parents sent me during October.

November will surely be quicker to scrap as we've been home all month!

 

 

Storytelling Sunday: Pick Your Precious

This is it. The last month of the year. The last "Pick Your Precious" story. Thank you, Sian, for hosting this year-long event that has prompted so many lovely, important stories. Here, in Sian's words, is the motivation for this meme:  Pick Your Precious is for short story tellers and for long. You can take the idea of simply a photo with a few words; or, if you are a can't-stop-yourself storyteller, you can expand as much as you like. The thing to keep in mind is that at the end of the year you'll have a permanent record of the little things you hold dear - and your family will know why you are holding onto them!

As I read the heartfelt stories this year, it became apparent that no matter what the chosen object, it is the memories associated with it that are truly precious.

When I think about what would matter most to me if I had to leave my home in a hurry with little in hand, I always think I’d try to grab some of my scrapbooks. 

Although I started scrapping late in life, they are filled with family stories, old and new; trips far and near; friends; and birthdays and celebrations. As I looked through these scrapbooks, I found pages from vacations, pages about events the year the scrapbook was created, and pages from many years prior. The Kiawah album holds pages from vacations taken there over a 12 year period! I don't think we'd forget those vacations, but the photos and journaling certainly bring back much more vivid memories than I might have otherwise.

It makes me realize, too, that there are still stories that need to be told. So, for my last "Pick Your Precious", I choose my scrapbooks, filled with love, laughter, and some tears as well. The stuff of life.

Circle Template: Alexa @ Trimming The Sails