I blinked and it's December!

How did that happen??  It is December 1 - already?

First up - in scrappy news here are two I have finished.  You can clearly see that I was diving back into my random photos to scrap box as these are from three decades apart. These four random images of my daddy and his dog Phaedra were first in the pile and, with that little fox in mind, this page used some scraps and some more fussy cutting from that pretty floral paper int he Cocoa Daisy kit.

Next up is a long overdue page to add to Jarad's firefighter album that I stared when he first joined HFD.  This is his "big" promotion ceremony to EO that happened in 2009.  These pages are hard - gotta keep them manly but I like them pretty at the same time.  I am kinda over the fire related paper and such but for fun I may pull some of that stash out and try to use it sparingly to keep the flavor of the book.  I still need to add to this - more photos need to be printed first.  He was just promoted to Jr. Captain so I need to get that in the book too.

I have about three pages that are almost finished that still need to be added and - wait for it - 6 weeks of Project Life that I completed over Thanksgiving break to add to.  I am now only 5 weeks behind!  I am totally gonna catch up.  (happy dance)

Update - here is one of the now completed pages -

And in non scrappy news:

I made cinnamon rolls from scratch - they were slap your momma good. Found the recipe on Sally's Baking Addiction - it is the overnight roll recipe.  I can't recommend it enough. The kids would agree.

We spend Friday decorating our house and then Saturday doing my mothers.  She was all smiles to have everything done and the boxes put away.  Yes, I asked them to pose for a post decorating photo.  They are so good to me.

Then we celebrated Jarad's birthday with a little brownie sunday fun. He and Wyatt watched the Texans and we played a game of Wits and Wagers together - fun game - I think we have many more rounds in our future.

And of course - Peppermint has returned!!!

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.  Merry Christmas!

October Round Up

Oh, October, my love/hate relationship with the fall begins with you.  I love the holidays, the sweater weather (though we don't really have that so much in Houston, till February) and the family traditions.  I hate the rush, the projects, the constant struggle to stay on top of things in the fall with work, school, kids, scouts, dance, soccer, etc.  Six months worth of activities, parties, projects, and volunteer work all wrapped into 31 days - days that contain less and less daylight each evening.  But then you give me that pumpkin patch grin and I cave, loving you more each year.  Really, there should be a 12 step program for this.  There was less scrapping in October than September, but it still happened so I am calling that a success.  Here's the round up - which includes a challenge win over on the Cocoa Daisy Blog - oh October, you get me every time.

This was made my my Cocoa Daisy October Kit with pictures from that day at the pumpkin patch.  Love the fox stamp and those leaves fussy cut from patterned paper.  Fall fabulous colors.  

Next up - you know those pages that linger and linger unfinished until something just clicks?  This is one of those.  After the Simper Scrapper Stash Bash earlier this summer, I was cleaning through supplies and pulled out these ancient plastic flowers, sassafras branding strip and what I have left of the Love, Elsie papers and then it just clicked that I had these two random photos waiting to be scrapped and it came together quickly.  Makes me wonder if the stash kit plan shouldn't be used more to target supplies and use them. Hmmmm, need to give that more thought.  

Here's another that has been idling for some time.  And somehow little bits and pieces of leftovers found their way to this patterned paper that had been used for a circle cut out.  It is kinda plain but at the same time doesn't feel like it needs anything.  

To what is currently sitting on my desk. I had intended on a page about what is happening right now and then right now just started happening.  Guess I better get back to that. . . .

Just a Quick Update

Trying to stay on top of things in this super busy season - here is a LO I did this past weekend when the hurricane gave us some extra time at home.  But first a little brag on the hubby.  Here he is at a survivors reunion for the Houston Fire Department.  The guy in the middle is the man they saved.  It was a lovely morning of thank yous from the family and incredibly humble firemen.  They impress me daily.

Now on to the layout! I made this for Lisa's Foxie Selfie Challenge over on the Cocoa Daisy blog.  The page is almost exclusively made with my October kit.  It's a good kit!

This one is almost finished but figured I would post anyway.  Love that wax paper trick I learned from Mercy Tiara.  Just need to finished the journaling.  Also made with my October Cocoa Daisy Kit and pictures from last weekend.  

Happy Fall Y'all!

The Greece (and Turkey) Album - the start of something

Many of you know that for my 40th - we did a huge trip to Greece and Turkey with family and friends.  It was amazing. The scrapbook is going to be amazing too!

This September's scrap retreat was all about the trip album. Angelia and I were going to work on our books together at the retreat and planned to create things side by side with slightly different photos but the same basic idea.

We started with the My Mind's Eye Hello World collection - we got most of the pieces. This set is travel themed, but not obnoxious. Then we added in random papers that we felt coordinated to add to the pattered paper stash since we couldn't source a ton of the collection and rounded it out with packs of 25 sheets each of Bazzill cardstock in the following colors: Typhoon, Arroyo, Watermelon, Kraft, Turquoise Mist, Navajo, and Beeswax. I found the cardstock at OfficeSupply.com for about $12 a package - I was pretty excited about that.  

We picked up a few other things at the most recent CKC in The Woodlands and then I used stuff from my stash and the 2-3 most recent Cocoa Daisy kits that I had keep myself from using (will power!).  

The other thing we decided up front was to have a few themes. Aside from the coordinated paper colors, one thing was to have an airplane on every page since we flew a ton on this trip. We found this airplane punch on amazon and I'm loving the way it looks.

We also picked up cloud diecuts in several shapes and a set of kraft tags to mark the beginning of each day. We have made it midway on day four and think the combination of things is keeping it pretty cohesive.  

Here is what we got done at retreat. (Clearly I need to add some journaling to come of these - and I will come back and edit this post with some other comments on supplies and thought process when I have time.  But at least these are all photographed!)