All Good Things Must Come to an End, Part Deux

Had to at least touch on Christmas. Seeing as it's already more than a month past the big day. Just in case you were worried that we completely missed a visit from the Big Guy, I have included the first picture of the day...



and the last (Julia enjoying the Crayola Crayon Maker with Daddy) as proof. Now we move on.

Never really thought of us as the bird-watching types, but we've really enjoyed all of the birds that populate the feeder outside of our family room window this time of year. The bird feeder was for Sullivan and is dutifully filled by Bubba and Reagan. The enormous treeline behind our house also allows us to see even more great aviaries. P.J. has taken to reading his bird book from the school library and filling us in on the different species. Who woulda thunk the big lens for my Canon XS DSLR that I bought for Pop Warner football games, would be used for nature pictures, as well. Please tell me I'm not getting THAT old!??!

I mentioned that my LSS All About Scrapbooks was closing. I made a couple of trips into Chesapeake to say my goodbyes, not only to my friends and the owners, but to the store, as well. While there I begrudgingly dragged a chair around the store and took down tons of my layouts. Here's one I made for a monochromatic challenge I never had the chance to share here...

Fun stuff for Scrapbook Express. All of this is available here.

With CHAW just wrapping up, that means lots of new goodies are going to be heading my way in the coming months. What does that mean? It means it's time to Love Your Stash...

Can't wait to stock up on all the new Sass...

Been scrapping like mad this month already. Be prepared for more Love Your Stash layouts soon...

Twinnies On... Everyday

Yea, yea, yea. I know, I know. What's with the Christmas themed photos?!? Christmas was weeks ago. I know that because there is only one tree taunting me with it's droopy needles and dangling bead garlands. Yep, just one. We downsized our Christmas this year, as we ONLY put up 6 trees, down from last year's 8. I totally missed Christmas here in blogdom what with all the hecticness that is my life... class parties, folks in from out of town, shlepping kiddos to sports/scouts, wrapping, shipping, and crafting. But, before we move onto the promise and fun that 2011 holds, I need to share 2 things from last month.

Growing up in Chicago, I always looked forward to the official start of the Christmas season... the bellringers. My dad was never one to walk past a Salvation Army red kettle without dropping in a donation. He's semi-retired these days and has been talking about picking up the bell, this year he did it. Right here at MY local WalMart while my folks were in town for the holiday. It was soo cool to see him right outside my own WM in the bitter cold with my brood. The Bigs spent one of the 3 hour timeblocks with him. Dad being Dad, arranged to have 3 bells that day(one for each kiddo). They had a great time ringing away and setting a kettle record, twice. The twinnies also got in on the action and spent some time with Dumpa. These memories are so priceless for me(and them through my photos in their scrapbooks). Check out Puppy charming the ladies and ringing that bell...

The other bit of Christmas ketchup is the crafty gifts I made. Excuse the cra**y photos as I took them in the middle of the night before hubby boxed them up and got them off in the mail. I made a TON of gifts this year for family, teachers, and friends from bragbooks to my old standby clipboards to planners to treatcones to wall calendars. For your visual enjoyment...

And some crafting just for me. A little Sassafras love... I know, shocker, big shocker.

Not quite sure why, but I love these Sass lines with Halloween. Something about the unexpected...

This WOULD have been my last project for All About Scrapbooks, but it morphed into Scrap that Baby's 1/15 prompt, "Holiday Baby". I have such a paper & glue crush on this Dear Lizzy Christmas line. So sad to see my LSS, my scrappy "home" for almost almost my entire scrappy life close at the end of this month. Sigh. Please support your brick & mortar stores. It's just heartbreaking to see another one go by the wayside.

Some fun We R Memory Keeper's for Scrapbook Express...

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, Friends.

It's All about Accountability

Can't chat. Too much scrappiness floating around my brain right now. PLUS, hubby is in the next room "enjoying" the Packer/Bear MNF game. Yikes. I have piles of scrappiness to share. First up are these two I did for the Design Team call at Scrapbook Express. Plan on seeing a lot of stuff from me for them over the next six months, or so. Wink.

More just random stuff... this one for a challenge at the Scrapbook Express Blog

I could roll around in new Sassafras... for Scrap That Baby's newest prompt in honor of Grandparent's Day.

For All About Scrapbooks...

I love last year's Making Memories Halloween line... Look at how small the Bigs were.

More new Sass love.

Later. Gotta run and make some lunches and get make to my paper & glue.

Who's that Lady? AKA Ramona Quimby

Ok, I know I'm totally revealing my age here, but doesn't Sassy's new 'do totally remind you of Ramona Quimby's hair from those classic Beverly Cleary books of our youth?!? And you know what a mischievous little imp Ramona was, so this totally fits our Sassy. Blame it on massive doses of sleep deprivation, but I finally broke down and got Sophia's hair cut. We were all at the haircut place to get all the Bigs done and somehow she ended up in the big chair getting one too. I'm pretty sure I blacked out for a second when I first saw her. I have never seen someone's appearance change so much with just a simple snip of some bangs. Wow. It has grown on me, and I think it suits her. P.J., on the other hand, is even worse with change than his Momma and still doesn't dig it.

Update on my sick DSLR. I got a estimate for the repairs and it just didn't make sense for me to go through with it. Once I paid that and bought new kit lens to replace the one the twins busted last year, it'd almost be as much as a new newer model DSLR. So Donk just bought me my Birthday/Anniversary gift. It'll be here on Monday. Can. not. wait!! I think a brand new camera (fully functional, at that) will be just what I need to jump back into the photo world!!

A little scrappiness for you today. A super cute 2-pager I made for All About Scrapbook's Creative Team Challenge for June. I combined that with my Color Challenge at Simply Obsessed. Feel free to play along with either challenge. The links are on my right sidebar! Check out this amazing ad from Waverly I used for my inspirational springboard...

Here's tha ad I pulled from Traditional Home magazine...

And this is what I came up with. these are some of my all time favorite pictures of the twins. Prepare to see them often. And I'm ok with that.

That's all for now. Happy Weekend!!

Thanks Easter Bunny. bock. bock.

Prompt number 4 is up at Scrap That Baby. Come on over and play. There's a rak up for one lucky poster. Come show us your Easter pages and your cute little wee one, as well. Here's what I did with the prompt. It may not have been the most typical first Easter, but it was a memorable one. We were at Disneyworld!! The bunny had our baskets waiting at the cabin when we arrived!


The sketch this month at Simply Obsessed was created by yours truly...

Here's what I did with it. Lots of new and much-loved (older) Sass...

Did this one for All about Scrapbooks. Mixed the new Girls Paperie with more Sass. LOVE it!! :)

Sorry for the short post. But, the twins are napping (knock wood). I NEED to get my scrap on. Tata, for now.

New & Old

I'm starting to feel like some of the fog is lifting and (knock wood) we're starting to get into our deployment groove. I can't thank you enough for the words of encouragement and the prayers you've offered to Patrick, our family, and the family directly affected by 121's tragedy. Thank you, thank you.

I'm starting to scrap, only for assignments and the like, but it's something. These first two are for the squadron's Ready Room's calendar. They're 6 by 6. If anyone doesn't know how these are used, just ask, and I'll post an explanation.

The next 2 items are cards I did with some more of Simply Obsessed's April kit. Thought hubby could use a little more happy mail in the coming months.

And, lastly are some notebooks I made for Teacher Appreciation week in May. I made these for the Creative Team display at All About Scrapbooks. We were challenged by Arlette to mix some old techniques/products with some new ones. Here's what I came up with...

Sorry for the short post. We're knee deep in chores, homework, dinner, and prepping for tonight's Cub Scout meeting. Be back soon. And thanks for reading! <3