Good bye 2009... Hello 2010

As crazy as the holidays are, I somehow have had more time to do crafty things this year. Just this week I found the time to scrapbook- for 4 hours! A feat I've not managed to do for quite some time. I haven't taken pictures of the layouts I did, but I really felt accomplished. I seem to have lots of layouts with pictures of my still MIA kitty in them, so I had been putting off scrapping those. But I just cried my way through it and got one of the layouts done. I miss that fur ball terribly and still hope he'll be back soon.

I do have pictures of other projects I've done recently- today I'll share the photo calendars I made for my husband, mother and father-in-law.

These came together quite quickly, but that's probably because I made it easy on myself by making the calendars 6x6, so I didn't have to do much measuring- just cut the paper into fourths.  Here are the three calendars closed:

I used the In Colors from 2008 for a few reasons- I love the combination of colors and I had a lot of the 12x12 sheets of card stock left, so I thought I should use it.  I chose to use Pacific Point, Kiwi Kiss and the Tangerine Tango as the three main colors.  Since my style is more simple, I chose to use just the photo corner punch to add some accents on each page- I didn't want any of the embellishments to upstage the pictures.

And here is a shot of one of the inside of the calendar.  Each calendar was pretty much identical, except for the pictures varied.

Cute, right?  The recipients will never know how simple they were to put together.  And since I used stuff out of my stash, they cost only my time.

As promised, pics of the photo ornaments

Here are the photo ornaments I made for my brother.   I have another set of these (only they are snowflakes) to make for myself, but projects for me always are at the bottom of the very long list I always seem to have.

These ornaments came together pretty quickly.  They were from a kit I picked up from Joanns many, many moons ago.  Quite honestly, I was tired of looking at the box and thought it was due time to get them done.  The hardest part was punching out the shapes- they were die cut, but not very well, so I actually had to use an exacto knife and go around the entire shape.  That took forever (a few day, working about an hour at a time).  Then I had to find pictures.

After that, they ornaments came together quite quickly.  I put the majority of them together in the car, on the way to visit family in Pittsburgh last week.  It was the perfect project for the trip- I finished almost all of them on the leg of the trip when my husband was driving.  It was a total last minute decision to grab the project and I'm thankful I thought to do it then.  Only about a third of the ornaments are pictured- I didn't want to bore you with more of the same.  I didn't embellish them too much- I inked up the edges and added a few rub-ons that came in the kit.

I think my brother will like them, don't you?  Even though he's a tough guy, I know he's truly a softie- these types of gifts usually make him teary-eyed.

5 Days to Christmas- and I'm not stressed! How about that?

Well, I've made much progress in the last 10 days or so.  I spent much of today in the kitchen, baking cookies and other sweet treats for this week.  I've finished the photo ornaments, the calendars and the book for my Grandma (photos coming soon!).  I still have the coupons to make for my husband and I've decided to make a photo book for my youngest since he loves looking at people (especially ones he knows!).  I think I have a pretty good handle on what needs to get done for Christmas and I think I should be able to get everything done early.  I even threw in a last minute semi-party of sorts.

My oldest, Benjamin, loves the movie The Polar Express, and he mentioned a few months ago that he wanted to have friends over to watch the movie.  Also, I was selected to be a Hershey's Kisses Cookie Exchange host, so I needed to host a cookie exchange and decided to combine the two and make life a bit easier.  So far so good, except for the rash of stomach illnesses that seems to be going around- some of the kids that were planning on coming are now too germy to come.  But that's better in the end so that we don't get sick right before Christmas.  That would throw a huge wrench into my plans!

So I had a little time to be crafty with my stamps last night and lookie what I made:

What would a movie be with out popcorn?  And we need something cute to put the popcorn in, right?  I was pretty pleased with myself.  I tend to get excited about the little bits of craftiness that I can bring into my life, especially lately.

Supplies used:  Choo choo stamp set, Right on track wheel, Going Gray ink, Red Ridinghood Red ink,  Wild Wasabi ink, Chocolate Chip ink.

I really enjoyed this project- it was quick and not so dirty.  I have everything on hand and since I knew the bags were only going to be used for a bit, I didn't have the normal stress about making them *perfect*.  Maybe I need to do that more often.  It would be good to get things done without the self-imposed stress.

15 days until Christmas- I'm totally stressed- how about you?

This morning I "remembered" that today is December 10th, which means that Christmas is a little more than 2 weeks away.  You see, as a mother of young children, I typically don't know what day of the month it is- I know the month and what day of the week, but for as the specific date- that information is usually useless to me because I generally have a similar routine/schedule every day.  So the fact that Christmas is not creeping up, but instead coming at me at a warp paced speed got me a little stressed.

Thinking it would help, I began to write (or as it turned out, compile) a to do list.  Well, that only made me even more stressed out.  As a crafter, I naturally have several handmade items on my gift list:  monthly calendars, a few photo books, a set of photo ornaments and some gift certificates (hubby loves to watch movies and I really have trouble finding the time to sit and watch a movie with him, so our to watch list has movies that were released three years ago.  I thought it would be a great gift to him to watch at least one movie a month.  And to make it more fun, I'd cook a meal in the same vein as the theme of the movie- for example, the movie 7 Pounds is on our list- for that night, I'm going to make a heavy meal like Italian food and make something very rich and filling).  Great ideas, right?  Well, I haven't finished any of them.  In fact, I haven't started 2 of the projects at all and I have no clear idea on how I want them to look or what supplies I'm going to use.

But instead of continuing to stress this afternoon, I took a few deep breaths, ate some chocolate and set my timer for 15 minutes and cleaned during that time.  I didn't get more done than I usually do when I play this little game with myself, but I was trying not to be so frenetic about my movements and just slow down.  I have 15 days- not 2.  The calendars are 90% done- they're together, pictures are attached- pages have been distressed a bit- I just need to finish the covers and add a little extra embellishment to the pages and then photograph them before wrapping them up this year (so I can show you, since you are waiting with baited breath!).   Once I finish this post, I'll order the photos for the ornaments so I can get a start on those.  And once I get those projects done, I'll be more than halfway there with finishing my handmade gifts.

I guess I'm writing this to tell all of you who are stressed out as I am that 1.  You are not alone if you are a stress ball right now; and 2.  It'll all get done (or mostly done).  So eat some chocolate, relax and be merry!

Update on my cat and other things...

Here's a picture of my cat, Bandit with my youngest Ryan.  This picture is over a year old, but it one of the cutest!  So Bandit is still out and about.  I've chased down leads all Summer and Fall to no avail. But I did just hear from someone yesterday who believes she saw Bandit- with a collar on- so it seems someone has taken him in.  Of course it could be yet another black and white cat, but I'm betting that it is him.  The last credible siting of Bandit was about 3 weeks ago one street over.   As the weather gets colder here, I'm confident that he'll be home before too long.  He may have had fun chasing the chipmunks, but I imagine he's not going to want to hang out in the snow.   My oldest misses Bandit a lot, but I keep his spirits up by talking about Bandit's grand adventure!


Other news from me is that I'm no longer a Stampin' Up! demonstrator- this economy and my family life (crazy little boys that keep me hopping and the aforementioned MIA kitty) was too much for me to maintain my demonstratorship.   But as strange as it seems, I'll probably be stamping and scrapbooking more.   I was feeling rather overwhelmed by my stash- actually more like suffocated. So I'm slowly starting to dig my way out and will have lots to show you, so stay with me.   Plus, you'll want to know what happens with my cat, right?

So here are two cards I made not too long ago.  I love this stamp set and was happy to finally ink it up.

Supplies used for these cards: Thoughts and Prayers stamp set, very vanilla card stock, perfect plum card stock and pastel, pale plum card stock and pastel, old olive pastel, versamark ink, and the corner rounder punch.

Retired Stamp Sale!

I really need to free up some room in my new crafting cabinet (well, in truth, I'm actually using two cabinets because 1 is just not enough). Here's the list of retired sets and wheels I'm willing to part with:

1. Fun filled- $7
2. A Greeting for All Reasons- $25
3. Soft Swirls- $20
4. Framed Greetings- $18
5. Amazing to Zany- $20
6. Greetings Galore- $20
7. Love Ya Bunches- $10
8. Polka Dot & Paisley- $15
9. Be Happy- $15
10. Simply Spring- $15
11. Small Shapes- $5
12. Time Well Spent (new and unmounted)- $30
13. Zoofari- $15
14. A Little Birdie Told Me- $15
15. So many sayings (new and unmounted)- $10
16. Riveting (new and unmounted)- $10
    

Wheels

1. Whimsical Blossom- $5
2. Flower Fun- $5

From a non-smoking home.

If you live outside of Cleveland and wish to purchase a set or two, I will ship them to you for the actual cost of USPS shipping.

I'm also open to reasonable offers- I'd like these sets to go to a stamper that might actually ink them up!

Paper bag album from your favorite slacker stamper

Same old story- my life is getting in the way of my stamping. I've spent the majority of my "free time" this summer looking for my 15 year old, deaf and de-clawed indoor cat. He escaped the last Saturday of June, right before a week of monsoonal rains and I've been chasing him ever since. He was last seen this past weekend with a limp. I'm sorry he's injured, but I'm thinking it may make it easier to catch him. He's just totally freaked out and I saw him about a month ago, at dusk, when other people had already been trying to catch him. He looked healthy- but just plain scared. I'm keeping my hopes up. One of these times, the timing is going to be right and he'll be coming home.

But you didn't come here to hear my tale of woe about my beloved kitty, so I'll move on... in the rest of my "free time" I have stamped a few choice projects- I made this cute little paper bag album for a dear friend earlier this summer. I had shown her the album I made of my oldest and she oooed and aahed over it, so I knew I would have to make one for her. I love giving gifts like this: totally personal and handmade. One of the benefits of having a craft stockpile, is that I didn't have to buy anything- everything I needed was on hand, just waiting to be made into something gorgeous!











Supplies used for this fabulous project (ALL Stampin' Up!, except for the paper lunch bags of course): Circle Circus stamp set, Rich Razzelberry card stock, marker and polka dot grosgrain ribbon, Melon Mambo card stock and marker, Dusty Durango card stock and marker, Crushed Curry card stock and marker, Bermuda Bay card stock and marker, Large Oval Punch, Photo Corners Punch, 5-Petal Flower Punch, Scallop Circle Punch, 1-3/8" Circle Punch, 1" Circle Punch, 3/4" Circle Punch, Scallop Edge Punch and silver brads.

Another good thing about projects like this is that once you make one, it is so easy to duplicate it again and again- teacher's gifts, anyone?