One Memory At a Time

2012-02-16T11:43:00.000-08:00

Valentine's day was pretty exciting at our house, or at least parts of it!!! I made fish boxes with "will you o"fish"ally be my valentine" on them for the kids to take to school. Hayden woke up and said "happy valentines day mom. is that what you are wearing today?" (as he is all decked out in his handsome clothes complete with tie). I said "yes, why?" "mom, it's valentines day....you are supposed to look your best." Man I love that boy!!!! Hayden got a stuffed dog (or is it a bear?) and Haley got roses delivered to school. They will not any longer let you take helium balloons to school, so they had those tied up in their rooms for when they got home. However, I did get a couple of great pictures with their gifts... Then Hayden wakes up the next morning and says "Is it still Valentine's week?" um, no, one day was plenty, we don't need an entire week!!!

2012-02-13T17:43:00.000-08:00

wow, what a nightmare.... next time I decide to abandon my blog for almost a year, I need to make sure I have written down all user names and passwords...... I haven't done a lot of scrapbooking in the last year, but do squeeze in a few here and there. These two pages I did last weekend while my husband was in Sioux Falls for hockey... Haley has just started reading the Junie B Jones books and I just love to listen to her read, one she has become such a great reader and is fluent and enjoyable to listen to and two, these books are hilarious!!!! She started reading one a few weeks ago and was in my bedroom and I kept hearing her bust out laughing, went in to check out what all the giggles were and there she is curled up on the bed with a book!!!! The one of Hayden is a very proud moment. It fills my heart when I hear stories about him helping others and thinking of others instead of himself, a trait I hope he never loses!!!

2011-03-29T13:04:00.000-07:00

I am really enjoying not having hockey to travel for every weekend and hence have spent some time in my scrap room over the past two weekends, however, not nearly enough and really need to spend some time in there cleaning instead of scraping, but.... prioritities I guess!!!!! I am really looking forward to going to Chamberlain this weekend with the girls for the retreat, fun times shall be had and can't wait to see what Kara comes up with for a costume this year!!!!! However, am a little bummed I will be missing April Fool's day with my kids.. (but not bummed enough to stay home obviously). I really enjoy doing "crazy meals" with my kids (thanks to my mom! who did this when I was little!), but with a little bribery of $$$$ to Jason he agreed to do it in my place. So excited for them. I am going to make grilled cheese sandwiches (you take pound cake, toast the outside lightly and then yellow frosting on the inside for the cheese), jello drinks (looks like juice, but is really jello, cheetos (dump the cheetos out and fill the bag with baby carrots) and dirt cake complete with worms!!!! I also have Haley's school lunch planned out, very similar, but with inside out sandwich and a worm in her apple!! It will interesting what my mom does. Last year she sent the kids new shirts with the head and sleeves sewn shut!!!!! OH the memories.

2011-03-29T13:00:00.000-07:00

2010-10-04T20:47:00.000-07:00

I absolutely love fall!!!!! I just wish it lasted longer. Jon and I took the kids to Canyon Lake tonight to get some pictures before all of the beautiful colors were brown and the wind had blown all of the leaves to the ground. Loved the place (thank you Kara) I had no idea there was a walking path back there!!! We all had so much fun and got some amazing pictures then enjoyed ice cream afterwards!!! What a perfect evening!

2010-10-04T20:38:00.000-07:00

What a fun weekend in Spearfish!!!!! Thank you Cathy, Kara and Cara for making it so much fun and enjoyable. Love you guys!!!! I actually got some pages done with the Lost and Found paper that I did not like at all when Cathy got it into the store, now I can't get enough of it!!! LOVE IT!!! however, am still picking glitter out of my hair (and my nose!!!!).

2010-07-21T20:12:00.000-07:00

We had a messy night at our house with some friends and the neighbor girl..... I put spagetti on the table and they had to use their hands, no plates, no forks. They all thought I had lost my mind, and rightfully so!!!!! Then I filled a table with shaving cream and tempra paint and let them paint eachother and the paper hung on the garage, gave them each a can of silly string, each a can of shaving cream and then brought out a gallon bucket of chocolate pudding, gallon of green jello and a gallon of red jello to spear on each other. They all had SOOOOO MUCH Fun and were covered literally from head to toe by the time they were done and so was my yard!!!!! afterwards we gave them water balloons and hosed them off and made smores on the back deck. OH THE MEMORIES!!!!!!

2010-06-15T15:41:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I know I am terrible about updating this. It sounded like so much fun when I started it!!!!!!! Well since the weather was crappy all weekend. I did virtually nothing but scrap book (and cleaned my scrap room so I could get to my things)... I definitely need a few more weekends like this last one and then maybe I would be getting something accomplished.

2010-06-15T15:39:00.001-07:00

2010-03-24T10:06:00.000-07:00

Who would have thought that two grown women could get so excited about clear egg cartons!!!!!! Cathy found an entire website dedicated to egg cartons and we just had to have the clear ones to put our alcohol ink eggs in!!!!! I had gotten all of my eggs done so last night I worked on decorating the cartons!!! ADORABLE. photos to come, for some reason my computer is acting up and doesn't want to load the pictures right. Working on it though.

2010-03-19T22:34:00.000-07:00

Well, what a week!!! So glad it is the weekend!!!! My friend's nephew got out of the hospital yesterday to go to the state B tournament games this weekend and then will go back for more radiation starting Monday. Really makes you think about what you have and hug your kids more often and a lot tighter....... I got all 13 dozen of my easter eggs alcohol inked this week, now just if the egg cartons would get here!!!!! My husband things we seriously need help and there must be some sort of treatment for this sort of thing. I assured him there is treatment for this sort of thing, it is called CREATE MORE!!!!! I got my project life caught up tonight. I am pretty proud of myself, I have done pretty well with it this year and typically print pictures and put them in each week (however, it is only March!!!!) Well, I must go find my shoes and purse, I have 13 minutes to get them and get to Blockbuster to rent New Moon at midnight!

2010-03-18T14:35:00.000-07:00

I love this layout of Haley even though it weighs a ton with all of the layered paper!!!!!

This is my favorite layout that I did at the retreat. Very impressed with how it turned out.

2010-03-18T14:29:00.000-07:00

Yes, I am fully aware that my blog says it has been some ..... 6 months or something since last updated. Life has been crazy at my house and everywhere around me. We are finally done with hockey... YEAH and onto baseball... Not so yeah.... I am not ready to sit out there and watch games and freezy my fingers and hiney off. but..... I went to the retreat in Chamberlain with Kathy and had an amazing time and actually got a little bit of stuff done.. I will try my hardest to keep up better on my blog, but no promises to anyone!

2009-08-19T21:35:00.000-07:00

Yes, Yes, I know my blog says it has been some 5 weeks or something since I have updated....oops. I didn't manage to get anything creative done for quite awhile. We are in the middle of putting new windows and siding on our house and it seems like the summer has just been crazy. At the beginning of the summer I had huge plans for getting all of this stuff done, now it is August 19 and I look back and think "Hmmm what have I done all summer and where did it go?" I am ready for some routine in my life and all but one of my afternoons in the week to have all 4 of my kids at school!!!!!!!! I did, however get some scrap booking done last weekend. it was rainy and nothing even resembling the August weather I am used to so I locked myself in my room and went to work. Very enjoyable I must say, just wish I could get away with that every weekend, even if it was only for one day!

2009-08-19T21:19:00.000-07:00

I spent most of last weekend in my scrap book room. It was a very nice change and I actually got some things accomplished. The layout with the spinner (below) I scrap lifted from Life as Lou, although she gives you full instructions on her blog it was much more complicated!!!!!!! I am not exactly sure what I did wrong, but it turned out ok anyway I guess....

2009-08-19T21:10:00.000-07:00

2009-08-19T21:02:00.000-07:00

2009-06-17T10:47:00.000-07:00

This weekend I bribed my kids to go outside and let me take some pictures. I had all this wonderful paper from the Playground I needed to do something with, but couldn't find any Wonderful pictures to use with it... Ice cream always gets them to do what I want, or should I say most of the time! some of the layouts I did 3 similar ones using the same picture, one for each of their books and one for my mom's calendar for Christmas.

I stole this layout idea from Tessa, thank you for the inspiration. I think I like yours better in the frame, but.....

2009-06-11T09:17:00.000-07:00

Wow, two updates in two days!!!!!!!! Since it was a rainy crappy day yesterday I struggled all day to get my typing done and then decided to spend the rest of the day scrapping. I just did some odds and ends. I have pictures from Christmas, fall and Easter!!!!!! It is amazing how much more motivation I have to get something done when it is something I WANT to do!!!!!!!!

2009-06-10T09:21:00.000-07:00

I love how this layout turned out with the Bobunny paper from the playground. I totally stole this idea from the Trendz magazine, but it was just perfect for the picture with Hayden and his preschool teacher. Those two just adore eachother, it is just like having another grandma. She would take him home in a heart beat and he would go with her no questions asked!!!! Although she might not adore him quite as much if she had to keep him for very long!!!!!

2009-06-10T09:12:00.000-07:00

I made preschool books for Hayden's class. They turned out really cute and the parents loved them. Each book had pictures of the child, pictures of the child with the teachers, their hand print and poem and then each teacher wrote a note on a crayon note card, which I stuck in a 8 pack crayon box. Turned out cute, but glad they are done. I can't believe school is out now, I am not sure if I am ready for this or not, especially with all the rain we are getting my kids are going stir crazy!!!!!!! and therefore I am going crazy too!

2009-06-10T09:06:00.000-07:00

I have created a monster out of my daughter!!!!!!!!! Sunday night I realized she was supposed to take treats on Monday since her birthday is in July and will obviously be out of school. So with limited time and ideas I ran to Family Thrift and bought Little Debbie Cosmic Brownies, brought them home and informed the kids "DO not eat them, they are for Haley to take to school." Haley goes out and looks in the bag on her way to bed and says "Mom, what are we going to do with them?" "What do you mean 'What are we going to do with them' we are going to take them to school and hand them out to your class". "No Mom, how are we going to decorate them?" So I quickly stamped happy birthday and punched a scallop and put it on there and she was tickeled so I chalked it up to a job well done and went to bed!!!!!

2009-05-14T11:05:00.000-07:00

I made baskets for the teachers for teacher appreciation week. this is a bad picture but.... it was kind of tricky finding all the candy bars, but finally ended up having the best luck at Boyds on the West Side and gas stations.

Throughout the school year you have been a LIFESAVER

and that's nothing to SNICKER about,

you've had to deal with TWIX from students acting like 3MUSKETEERS

but you have always RIESEN to the occasion.

Although there were many days you thought you'd lost your SKITTLES

or felt like an AIRHEAD with all you had to do

and the accidents caused by BUTTERFINGERS

I'm sure were GOOD N PLENTY

so while the PAYDAYS are probably not 100GRAND

it is time for you to TAKE 5 and rest your WATCHAMACALLIT

thank you for all you do and whether you go

across the country or into ORBIT

we hope you summer is EXTRA special.

2009-05-01T08:45:00.000-07:00

Happy May Day!!!!!!! This is somewhat of a lost holiday.... I remember making May baskets for my class in school and especially for my grandpas and grandmas, setting the basket on the steps, ringing the doorbell and running around the house and they would come chase us and kiss us. Not sure if that is really what you are supposed to do or just something my mom thought up, but it was fun! I made the strawberry baskets for the kids' teachers and the other little baskets for their class. Haley was quite a help and did all of the stamping and punching of circles and scallops for the fronts. She loves being able to help with projects. Hayden did all of the pulling of the lever for the sizzix to emboss the strawberries. Have a great weekend!

2009-04-27T08:16:00.000-07:00

It was a great weekend to stay in my jammies and scrap and I actually got ALOT done!!!!!!!! Friday night it was cold and yucky so the jammies went on early and I sat downstairs with my little space heater and did a few layouts, but more than anything tried to corral my mess and get things somewhat organized as it was very much needed. Saturday I did get out of my jammies as I did the cook book class at the Playground, then when I got home from that, EVERYONE in my house was asleep!!!!! How perfect so back downstairs I went and did a few more layouts, then back on went the jammies! On Sunday I got up and took a shower and put on clean jammies to spend the day in!!!!!!!!! I just love those days! I got my Project 365 caught up todate (you guys really shouldn't have quit so early, it is actually quite fun and interesting!), I worked on May baskets for my kids' classes and attempted to put my foot high pile of finished layouts into albums and realized I really need to start scrapping chronologically instead of always doing new pictures first because then I wouldn't have to take my books apart everytime I go to put the pages in there. I also realized that I don't have nearly enough page protectors or albums or space to put the albums when they are put together.!!!!!!!

Love this layout. I stole this idea from Kendra (Thank-x Kendra) I didn't have the cool chip board she did, so I just pop dotted each of my layers and it turned out really cute!!!!

These are the same pictures as above, just different papers. I really try to do two layouts of each, then my kids have one for their book and I have one for my family album.

It is a good thing my daughter didn't look at all of my finished pages fromt this weekend because I did all Hayden pictures and she might feel a little left out!!!!!!! (This weekend he was much easier to scrap because Haley was being a little pill and it is really hard to do "princess" pages when she is acting like she is 2!) Have a good week.

2009-04-23T11:52:00.000-07:00

I made these adorable strawberries for my bunco group. These pictures aren't very good (sorry) but they are super cute and super easy. I am going to make some more for the kids' teachers' may baskets. They are filled with M&Ms. (splitcoast) I wish I had some of the old green plastic woven baskets that strawberries came in, but can't find them anywhere, so if anyone has a stash pile they would like to get rid of, let me know.

2009-04-19T21:53:00.000-07:00

This weekend we went back to my mom and dad's in Murdo and the little tiny town (yes, they come smaller than Murdo) just outside of Murdo had a carnival that we went to. I remember always going as a kid and my kids have went every year. Every year we try and try to win a cake in the cake walk and up until this year my kids have both went home crying without a cake, but this year Hayden won one and was so tickled. It probably ended up costing us $30 as many times as we went, but we came home with a cake, then he was so proud of it he wasn't going to let us eat any of it. I am not sure what exactly he thought we were going to do with it if we didn't eat it but.........

2009-04-19T21:45:00.000-07:00

Yes, yes I know, these don't do any of you much good now a month after Easter, but that is just the way my life functions right now. I made the fry box rabbits for Haley's class (thank you Cathy for the cute idea and use of your Big Shot!), the buckets were for the teachers and were filled with alcohol ink eggs and the carrots were for Hayden's class (modified a template from splitcoast to make it work!) The teachers loved them (probably more than the kids, the kids just want the candy)!!!!!!!!! So to all of you, I hope you had a happy Easter!

2009-04-06T10:29:00.000-07:00

Finally, I am updating my blog!!!!! ~ I know it took me long enough!!!!!! These are some of the pages that I did during one of the MANY snow days we have had in the last month. I love snow days, sitting inside in my pajamas, baking cookies, watching it snow, watching the kids play in the snow, scrapbooking and watching movies, but ENOUGH is ENOUGH. We have had enough snow for this year. I am ready for spring, ready to plant flowers and mow the lawn and go camping, but according to the news, it isn't done yet and we are supposed to get another one this week. ERRRR. I think I will go by the 7 day forecast in the paper instead of the one on TV. According to today's paper it is supposed to be 60° and no snow!!!!!! Also my house could use a break from snow days. It is amazing how much bigger of a mess things are and how much more food we go through when everyone is snowed in!!!!!!

2009-03-01T23:56:00.000-08:00

Oops, I forgot to add my new layouts before I left,actually, I just ran out of time!!!!Jason's team ended up in 7th at State Hockey in Yankton this weekend, not greate, but I guess could have been 8th!!!!! I am not sure why anyone would want to live there, HOLY COW it is cold there!!!!!!
Now I am in Minneapolis with Jon and all I can say about that trip is Thank Goodness for navigation systems!!!! If it wasn't for that I would have just parked me car outside of Minneapolis and cried until someone came and got me!!!!!!!! I now know why Jon won't let me drive in big cities!!!! If only I had a dollar for everyone that honked at me or flipped me off!!!!!!! Jon is doing good, but very ready to be out of there, we are hoping for Thursday, but we will see, only time will tell as he has to have multiple seizures first. Well it is 2 in the morning and I really can't type on this laptop!!!!!! Hey all of you girls (you know who you are) I haven't been in the playground for a week and it will be at least another week before I get in there so save me some of the cool stuff!!!!!!!!! Have a great week all.

2009-02-11T07:39:00.000-08:00

Hayden has a best buddy at preschool named Aidan. I have never seen two little boys be so much alike Aidan James and Hayden James and get along great, both loving to play rough with swords and toy guns. Aidan's mom took these pictures of the boys at school yesterday and I just had to do something with them last night. Love the October AFternoon paper from the Playground!!!!!!!!!

2009-02-04T07:33:00.000-08:00

I just love these little milk cartons, the holder holds 4 and the best part about them is they open from the bottom so you don't have to destroy them to get the goodies out of them (as long as you are smart enough to look at the bottom to see it (unlike my kids who just tore into them!) I bought the template from www.inkingidaho.blogspot.com and she did a great job creating them and making the instructions easy to follow.

2009-02-04T07:26:00.000-08:00

I made a backpack for Haley's teacher and pencil holder for all of the kids in her class (I figured they probably get more than enough candy for Valentine's day). They each hold 4 pencils and I actually found valentine pencils at Family Thrift Center pretty reasonable and I got the template from http://justgivemestamps.typepad.com

Finally Valentines are done!!!!! I made these for Hayden's class. I just love the back packs and am going to fill them with candy for the teachers (http://www.docudesk.com/) and then covered the candy bars, pretty simple but.......

2009-02-04T07:22:00.000-08:00

Wow It has been a long time since I have posted!!!!!! Last week Haley was the "special student" of her kindergarten class so she got to take pictures of her and her family and extra show and tell and then one day was supposed to bring treats so I made these little milk cartons (I bought the template off splitcoast) and filled them with little bags of cookies and also took them little cartons of Chocolate milk. She was thrilled!

2009-01-22T07:47:00.000-08:00

Project 365 is still going. I can't believe I have actually kept up with it and have the 1st three weeks scrapped already. I have been taking pictures all week then doing the layout on the weekend and it has worked pretty well!!! It is amazing the little things that are important in my life that I take for granted (on Tuesday Hayden dumped water on my cell phone and it didn't work I ran down to Cathy's and felt naked without it and thought the entire time "what if someone needs to get ahold of me?") How did we get along without this stuff before? I think it will be really interesting to go back and look at this in years to come and the things that are "essential" now will be different and there will be bigger and better things in life that are "essential". In addition to the Project 365 I have started a "I remember" journal. Each day I write a memory from before. It is so weird how one memory leads to another and another and another. I just thought this too would be kind of fun for future generations to look at and read what I remember as a child growing up and the silly things we did.

2009-01-22T07:40:00.000-08:00

I have been getting so much grief about not updating my blog, so I decided I had better get something done. Here are a few layouts I did over the weekend, nothing spectacular, but DONE!!!!! I love the one of Hayden tangled in the lights with the string of lights wrapped around it, it is just something about kids and Christmas lights that make me happy, the sparkle in their eyes is like no other.

2009-01-07T09:26:00.000-08:00

Sorry, haven't updated lately, but I haven't really done anything other than try and get my house back in order (or as much order as my house can handle) since the kids are back in school. I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and a happy new year. I am so proud of myself I am 7 days into Project 365 and haven't forgot to take my picture yet!!!!!!!!! only 358 days to go!!!!!!!

2008-12-29T21:18:00.001-08:00

My challenge for 2009..... While reading Creating Keepsakes the other night they had a "Project 365" taking 1 picture a day for a year of anything from your breakfast... to your bathroom... to a family vacation. At first I thought this was kind of crazy, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized "Imagine how much future generations could learn about you from this one album, simple things they may find interesting, but would otherwise never know about you." The price of gas, what your cell phone and computer looks like, just think of how much cell phones and have computers have changed just in our generation, imagine what they will be like 30 years from now! starting January 1 you can order a kit from Creatingkeepsakes.com "magazines". I challenge you to do a project 365.

2008-12-29T08:24:00.001-08:00

Christmas is over.... I am not sure if I am happy or sad? I had a great Christmas, but I am kind of sad it is all over and done with and now only to start on the next year. I got to spend a lot of time with my family so that was really good and got some great scrap stuff that I am ready to play with NOW. I am ready for all of the hustle and butle to be over, but I miss the magic happening in our home on a daily basis. Christmas is definitely for kids and I love watching their eyes and facial expressions when opening presents and doing things you only do at Christmas! Christmas eve we spent with Jon's family then headed to Murdo to be with my family Christmas day, then on Saturday we went to Pierre to celebrate Christmas with all of my mom's brothers and sisters and all of my cousins so that was great. We took the kids to the capital and fed the geese (Hayden was more interested in running through them and trying to make them fly than feeding them. I guess he figured they needed a little exercise after they had eaten all of that!) and went through and looked at the trees. My kids and husband had never been there so that was a lot of fun. They are so beautiful and so much work put into them, it is sad they are coming down today. AND NOW off to the real world of work again!!!!!!!!!!I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to Come!

2008-12-29T08:16:00.000-08:00

Finally the doll house is done!!!!!!! When I was little my dad made me this doll house and I got it and remodeled it. In the beginning I thought how hard could it possibly be to put some new wall paper and carpet in this house as the structure was still good? WEll if I would have just left it at that and not put up chair rail, wainscoating, made new curtains (I definitely now know why I am a scrapper and not a seamstress!), hard wood floor in the living room and hallway, and trim around the baseboard it would have been pretty easy, but I had to keep going then just thought I was done and decided no house is complete without wall words and berry garland above some of the windows!!!! Haley loved it and has played with it for endless hours already. she was so excited when we brought it in Christmas eve morning!!!!!!!!

2008-12-29T08:14:00.000-08:00

On the 12th day of Christmas to my true friend I gave.... I covered Prima box filled with peanut butter kiss cookies! I love these boxes, it almost makes me want to go buy all of the prima flowers from Cathy just to have the boxes to cover!!!!!

2008-12-22T08:31:00.000-08:00

On the eleventh day of Christmas... I forgot to take a picture... to my true friend I gave..... a note pad cube stamped with snowflakes and a big blue bow on top (thanks to Cathy for making all of them for me!)

AHHHHHH I went to bed last night feeling most of my projects were coming to an end, I wrapped all weekend, finished all my calendars, the doll house is almost done, baked cookies, made cookies in a jar for my co-workers, made gingerbread houses, cleaned my house and THEN I woke up this morning and started to make a list of last minute things that need to be completed and it is a FULL page, my house is a disaster again (I decided that is pretty much a waste of time until my kids are off to college!) So much for thinking I was pretty well done! I just can't figure where the time has gone? If anyone happens to have an extra elf sitting around doing nothing at their house, please send him over here PRONTO!

2008-12-21T21:48:00.000-08:00

On the tenth day of Christmas to my true friend I gave..... a bandaid tin filled with gift tags. I got this idea from Cathy at Altered Art. Thanks for the inspiration, you are awesome!

2008-12-20T18:09:00.000-08:00

On the ninth day of Christmas to my true friend I gave..... a paper purse filled with peppermint kisses.

Is it just me or did Christmas really sneak up on us this year? I have 4 days until Christmas even and feel so overwhelmed with projects to finish (and some to start), shopping to finish, cookies to bake, wrapping to be done and the list goes on and on. At the beginning of December I thought Iwas doing really good, now I am just in panic mode!!!!!!

2008-12-18T21:53:00.000-08:00

On the eighth day of Christmas to my true friend I gave...... A pillow box filled with candy canes. (Apparently my dog doesn't like candy canes because he ate the paper of one of the boxes, but left all the candy canes laying on the floor a little crushed, but not eaten!)

2008-12-18T10:36:00.000-08:00

Twas the night before Christmas, I'm glued to the tree.
I'm wondering what Santa brought just for me.
Could it be cardstock or chipboard or lace?
Or a Cricut, I said, with a smile on my face.
And that's when I heard him,

"Hi Santa" I said
"You know.... good little girls
should be in their beds."
"I know I should Santa,
and now I've been caught.
But I was just so excited
To see what you brought."
"Well, let's take a look
in this room where you work.
He shook his head quickly,
And left with a jerk.
I heard him exclaim
as he put it in gear
"You've got enough crap,
I'll see you next year!"

I got this poem from Michelle Chikos and thought it was so cute, but I am afraid to say, Santa will probably be telling me this year!

2008-12-18T10:18:00.000-08:00

For the kids' classes I made M&M matchbooks. Honestly I think the teachers and I probably like them way better than the kids, for them it is just about what is inside, not the package, but I still enjoy doing it and the teachers really enjoy them so it makes it worth the time!

2008-12-18T07:49:00.000-08:00

On the seventh day of Christmas to my true friend I gave..... A post it note book. These are so adorable. My good friend Leslie was kind enough to teach us how to make these and then I went to the dollar section in Target and got adorable Christmas post it notes. I also made some of these for the kids' teachers for their Christmas basket. Again a great co-worker gift!

2008-12-17T10:25:00.000-08:00

On the sixth day of Christmas to my true friend I gave..... a covered candybar. I got this idea from Michelle Chikos, this is what she gave out at her last retreat Thank you Michelle!!

2008-12-16T20:53:00.000-08:00

On the fifth day of Christmas to my true friend I gave.... A triangle box filled with nuggets!!!!! I found the template for these triangle boxes on splitcoast and again, they were very simple, but turned out really cute and are great for a stocking stuffer or a gift for a co-worker.

We had a little mishap with the 12 days of Christmas last night and today. When I got home last night I found that my chocolate lab got into my kids' 12 days of Christmas presents, eating everything that he could and shredding the wrapping and packages on the rest. Then this morning, while taking the kids to school he got into the box that had ALL of my sister-in-laws 12 days bags and ate it all. After talking to my friend Kelly (who is a vet tech) and him spending the day at the vet's office, and receiving a very expensive bag of coal from the vet, not Santa he is doing fine, but still hiding as he knows he is in trouble!!!!!!!!!

2008-12-15T07:44:00.000-08:00

On the fourth day of Christmas to my true friend I gave...... A cute little bag filled with Chritmas M&Ms. I got this idea from a friend Michelle with Close To My Heart and then just took it a step further and cut out an oval on the front and put transparenency there so you could see what was inside.

2008-12-14T10:11:00.000-08:00

On the third day of Christmas to my true friend I gave.... note card boxes!!!! I made the boxes from paper and then put 3 inch note cards in side. the boxes didn't stay together as well as I had wanted, but you can use the cards and then it won't really matter if the box stays together or not!!!!!!!

2008-12-14T10:08:00.000-08:00

On the 2nd day of Christmas to my true friend I gave..... A bucket filled with chex mix to remind you that Santa "chex" his list twice!!!!! These buckets are the cutest thing ever! Tessa found them at the dollar store on Haines, told Cathy and I about them and I went and bought the rest that they had (37) the lady working thought I was crazy, but O'well!!!!!

2008-12-12T09:20:00.000-08:00

On the first day of Christmas to my true friend I gave..... One big jar of hot coco!

Each year for the past 6 or 7 years I have done the 12 days of Christmas for my kids and some friends. It is just something very little (usually the dollar store) and they get to open it each morning before school. They have come to really like this tradition even though the things are small and usually gone or broken by Christmas!!!!!!!! For the last few years I have made the 12 days of Christmas for some friends and family. For the hot coco jars I experimented with the Vinyl for the cricut machine and cut out "LEt it snow" and snowflakes and stuck them to a jar from Hobby Lobby. I think they turned out really cute and they will be just in time for the cold cold weather we are predicted to have this weekend. A HIGH of 3° that is REALLLLLLY COLD!!!!!!!! What a perfect weekend to have a nice hot cup of coco and watch a movie with a big fuzzy blanket or scrap all weekend sipping coco with a nice space heater blowing on your feet!

2008-12-09T08:22:00.000-08:00

I went scrapping at a cabin out in the woods this weekend and made this glimmer mist snowman book. I love how it turned out and now all I need is some snow pictures to put in it!!!!!!!!

2008-12-09T08:19:00.000-08:00

I was looking for something super quick and easy for my kids to take to school for Christmas treats and found these adorable M&M Matchbooks on Splitcoast. They went together so fast it was AMAZING!!! I love easy projects that turn out cute!

2008-12-09T08:18:00.000-08:00

OH to be a kid again!

2008-12-09T08:16:00.000-08:00

All Tangled up in Lights

2008-12-02T20:34:00.000-08:00

Tonight I helped Haley and Hayden make Christmas banks. This brought back such great memories from when I was little. Every year my mom would help us make banks out of milk cartons (that was always the best, we never got chocolate milk already mixed up otherwise, we had to use the dry Nestle powder and white milk and it just isn't the same!) We would save money all of December and get extra money for being good, helping out or whatever, then right before Christmas we would take our banks to the local 5 and Dime Store and buy Christmas presents for the family. This is the 3rd year we have done this with Haley and Hayden's first year. It has been so much fun taking Haley to the dollar store and telling her "pick whatever you want for each person" she actually does pretty good and puts a lot of thought into each person's gift. It is just exciting for me to watch them give and know there is more to life than always getting and sometimes you give and expect nothing in return.

2008-12-02T20:30:00.000-08:00

I got this super cute, super easy kit from Cathy and put it together last night. The kids started their count down to Christmas boxes and thought those were just the best thing in the world because they got a little toy or candy EVERY DAY UNTIL CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!

2008-11-25T11:33:00.000-08:00

Yes, I know I am crazy. I made these adorable turkeys for Haley and Hayden to take to school. Hayden was so excited to take them and hand them out. My mom used to always make cute cupcakes and stuff for us to take to school and now that you can't take that sort of thing I have to resort to something else, so part of my craziness I have to blame on my mom!!!!!!

2008-11-25T10:58:00.000-08:00

My countdown to Christmas box I made for my kids, now I just need to fill it. I suppose they won't be to excited about it if there isn't anything in there!!! I can't believe we will have to start the countdown in 4 days. Where has November gone?