December Happenings

The start of December brings lots of memory making and therefore less time to scrap them.  So in lieu of a ton of pages, here's what we have been up to these days.

Christmas Concerts x 2 - Wyatt and Elsie were on different days this year - that was fun.  Elsie also had a ballet show on the same night as Wyatt.  Thank goodness my hubby knows to take pictures for me - though he did tell me that this picture with his teacher was his idea.  (Gosh, he looks so grown up in this picture.)

Our Elf on the Shelf - Peppermint - has been up to mischief and fun for weeks now! We are sad to see her leave next week - but we have had so much fun.  Here she is winning Uno.

Theater Under the Stars show #2 with mom - The Rockettes! This show made me miss being a drill team girl/director so much.

And finally, some scrapping. When the December Cocoa Daisy kit arrived, I was so excited I just had to play - I had this photo sort of planned for a completely different paper and then I saw this floral one and this page was born. This is much busier than my usual style but I kinda like the way the color combo works. This is actually the night that Jarad and I started dating.    

And then, back to the festivities of the season. We have been going to mom's house to decorate her tree for a few years now. She loves it and the kids think it is cool to get to do more than one tree.  Win - Win. It's fun to see the family history lesson happening with backdrop of twinkle lights and tinsel in the same house in which I grew up.

And the holiday fun continues - we volunteered again with our church's Bethlehem Village and live nativity. We helped in the activity area and yes, that is me dressed as a shepherdess. What? You don't think the leopard print is period appropriate?  I have to admit to laughing when they handed it to me.

Merry Christmas!

In Progress + a Side Project

And finally complete - here is the page about my first job. Loving the Fancy Pants paper - it's old but well suited for this project.  I used a few bits from the last Cocoa Daisy kit and some odds and ends from my stash - My Minds Eye chipboard and some Thickers.  

Found this fun single photo of me with my friend Ericka from high school. I can tell I was still using film as it had that weird exposure stuff on the top of the pic - either the first or last picture on the roll of film. Ah, the good ole days of film. I was trying to use up bits and pieces from my kit and ended up using paper from three or maybe it is four kits! Yeah! It is a strange color combo, but I kind of like it . . . 

And one night, instead of scrapping, a girlfriend came over and we made these - 24 tags for our church to put on Christmas stockings for 24 children who live in a local CPS shelter.  Karen came up with the design - she saw it on a card and figured it would be a great stand along tag.  I love that I get to make these each year and now that Karen has been helping me - it has been so much easier, not to mention way more fun!  After this picture, we topped them with yellow ribbon and they will be delivered to the volunteers Sunday and packaged on Wed.  It's a joy to give!  

Kit Wrap Up and Other Projects

Trying to stay in the habit of posting and finally figured out the easiest way to do that was part on my phone and part on keyboard - thankful for small victories.  

I have three layouts on my desk right now - this one that is all done now (picture is from when it was in progress) but the hidden journaling. It is hidden as it speaks to being severely sexually harassed at my first real job. It is going to be tough to write about, but it is clearly a defining moment in my life so I want to record it, just not for everyone to read. On the surface it will just look like a page about my first office job. Most of the products used to make this page were by Fancy Pants from my stash. And yes, I have a wonder woman obsession, hence the mug.   

No pictures yet of the other layouts. But this picture below shows all the layouts I have made in the last couple of months. The photos are from several decades so I sorted and filed them all into albums. That was a happy moment. I am really having fun getting some things scrapped from high school and college as well as current stuff. Feels like I am telling my own story which might otherwise be missing for my kids when they get older. The college photos are sorted by academic year and I am picking more for the next Cocoa Daisy kit that comes so I can keep working away on the stack.  Not sure if I will keep it up or get bored and take a break. Either way, it feels good.

One more reason I took this silly stack of layouts picture - I am really bad at realizing what I have accomplished. I think that it why I like Project Life so much - it helps me see all of the things we do as a family and all of the things I do of which I should be more aware. I am pretty hard on myself, always pushing, never satisfied, this picture and sticking it here and in my PL album keeps me grounded. 

I am wrapping up with the August - November Cocoa Daisy kits and can't wait for the December one to arrive in the mail.  

Nearly There!

So many pages to wrap up and photograph! I hope to get that done this week after I make it through the Brownie meeting on Wednesday!

Here's a few sneak peeks.  I only have about three pages of paper and some scraps left from the two most recent Cocoa Daisy Kits. And I just got my email that my kit will be coming next week - happy girl! In the meantime there are a few things to do on about 6 pages - mostly journaling.  These three are now all complete.

From San Antonio - a lone photo from Bombay Bicycle Club from senior year. This page took forever with all of those strips, but I finally found a use for those silly cut off strips!  

Ah, the Buffett concert - good times.  This one is done - just need to photograph. That is totally one of my favorite pieces of paper ever.  So happy to have it in the book.

Here is one of those last ditch effort pages to pull together just one more layout from a kit - I love these. They end up being so much fun and really simple to make cause you have so few choices. You get what you get and you don't throw a fit I guess!  And for the love of Hambly - collective sigh - those swallows. . .