2024 Covers

Happy Saturday to you! I always think this time of Christmas break won't be weird, but it always is! On Wednesday I had to pull up my computer calendar to tell me what day of the week it was, and in relation to New Year's Eve, ha. 

Today I'm sharing the calendar covers this year. I have done many things for covers thru the years, but this time I kept it simple with just a family picture, some DP and a bit of embellishment.

This photo was taken on Thanksgiving. 

And this picture was taken on Christmas Eve of 2022! haha! And the baby was born in the middle of the year so she was added to the side. 

And if you were wondering, of course the calendars were a hit, again. Which honestly, ha, is a relief...

I hope you have a safe and happy New Year's Eve celebration, however you enjoy it! 

Merry Christmas!

Life just keeps getting busy and going faster, so one thing I have simplified is making a photo card to send our family and friends. We send about 80 cards out each year, and that doesn't include what I send out for customers. This year we did something totally different, using a trip photo instead of a "family portrait". So if you didn't get a card from us this year, here you go! 

I hope your day is filled with peace and love, whatever you're doing! 

Merry Christmas Eve!

Christmas Eve seems to be a holier day in our house, in preparation of Christmas, and I'm happy it falls on a Sunday this year. So here is my favorite Christmas music video for you:

December 2024 Calendar Pages

Happy Saturday! 
I did make two calendars this year, as I have many years. This is our Christmas gift to our parents (and my siblings too) so I make two separate ones for each side of the family. This has kind of been pretty much all the creative time I've had since September or so.
This year was much more difficult. My sweet mother in law passed away this year, and she was always so animated in her excitement of the pictures we chose. And it was trickier to get my siblings to send me pictures and my side of the family simply didn't gather as much this past year for me to have enough photos of my own!
So, to mix things up, ha, today I am starting by sharing our December pages, which really use photos from December 2022. I always use the year before because I need them done by December, ha.

And as a bit of a reminder, the calendar for my inlaws is mostly of the people in my household, with a smattering of grandparents, or other family members as events may happen. 

And my parents calendar "has" to have each grandchild on every page, and on a "great" page I manage to get all of my parents descendants. haha! 

Lots of Christmas festivities last December! hahaha! 

When the paper matches!

These were two layouts of the same event but for different books again. Love that those are getting done! Because many times I'll stop at just one......
This was from last Christmas as well, and the only year we've ever done matching jammies for everyone.
It was another big night- we watched a Christmas Devotional, then opened our new jammies, took family pictures for the Christmas card that year (ha!) and then had our Polar Express night tradition- which is to watch the movie with a hot chocolate intermission! 

Supplies:

Paper: Real Red, Peaceful Prints DP

Accessories: Metallic Pearls

Journaling Font: Xiomara

Supplies:

Paper: Real Red card stock, Peaceful Prints DP

Accessories: Santa Express Memories & More Cards, forgotten washi tape

Journaling Font: Dreaming Outloud Pro

Christmas Play!

Happy Monday! I have more projects for you this week! 

Today I have an event from last December, but for my younger daughter. This page was made in June. The children in our church congregation did a bit of a nativity play for a local assisted living center, and my little one was asked to be a sheep. She was terribly upset about that, and then decided she could be a lamb. ha. Whatever it takes! 

Supplies:

Stamps: Alphabest, For Unto Us, Joyful Nativity, God's Peace

Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Delicata Gold

Paper: Very Vanilla & Cherry Cobbler card stock, All is Bright DP

Accessories: Cherry Cobbler & Gold Metallic ribbon, Festive Pearls

Journaling Font: Fairwater Script

and a smidge of a close up

A Busy Night!

This page has no title, or stamping. This one was also made in May and is also of Christmas 2022, and all of one evening. We went to see A Christmas Carol at a local theater, and then got a delicious dinner, annd then my husband's car wouldn't start so we had to jump it, ha. But it was all worth scrapping! 

Supplies:
Paper: Old Olive card stock, Night Before Christmas DP
Accessories: 1/8 Striped Ribbon, Regals Candy Dots, Metal Edge Tags 
Journaling Font: Baguet Script

Graham Cracker House!

Today I have a page I made in May, and the photos are only from this past Christmas! Yeay! ha! 

My MIL made gingerbread houses but at our house we make them from graham crackers. We "glue" it together with burned sugar (method HERE) and turn the kids loose with whatever frosting or icing we have, and alllll the sprinkles and things. Two of them eat every bit, haha, but this girl is not a fan. They all enjoy creating them tho, and that's the point.

The embellishments all come from a Paper Pumpkin kit! One of those past Christmas ones I love. 

Supplies:
Stamps: Whimsical Lower Alpha
Ink: Cinnamon Cider
Paper: Mint Macaron card stock, 
Accessories: November 2020 Paper Pumpkin 

Do you make a gingerbread house at your house? Or just cookies? I make those too! 

Christmas Baking!

Do you like to bake at the holidays? This year we have seven kinds of treats that someone or other in the house has requested..! Mostly cookies, but also a super simple "fudge". (it isn't a true fudge, but it IS yummy, and it is fast, so that's good enough for me!)

I scrapped this page for my daughter in January and also saved this one to share in December. The photos are very old, because she had a shoe box of all sorts of photos I'd printed over the span of many years and just hadn't gotten to... She had 31 "old" events fully printed, waiting to be scrapped in January, and since she graduated in May I was cramming. So here was this one! 
...The photos are older than the DP and might be older than the stamps too! 

Supplies:
Stamps: A Merry Little Christmas, ABC-123 Sketch Alpha
Ink: Real Red, Mossy Meadow marker
Paper: Basic White, Candy Cane Lane DP

October's Paper Pumpkin!

Good morning! Have you ever subscribed to Paper Pumpkin? I have a few customers and friends who have. I've been a subscriber for a very long time, tho not the beginning. And I will tell you- the October and November kits are always my favorites!!

This time I preferred the October kit! I couldn't wrap my head around it when I saw the pictures of it, but the houses and trees are layers you add with Dimensionals. 

This time I even got the add-on! I think I've only done that one other time, but this time I realized it was a steal for a stack of quick cards and I send out approximately 90* cards a year sooo....! Here's the add-on, as we made it in my Christmas Card class in November. 

You COULD stick a die cut house on between the trees, but I thought it was so pretty exactly as it was! I just added a strip of ribbon, which we adhered with scotch tape! and a few Dimensionals on the greeting and voila! And! The add-on set, and the original kit refills are still available for subscribers HERE! 

*I do not send out 90 hand made cards. Most of our family gets a photo card and a newsletter of sorts. In recent years it's just been a short note I call our highlights. Customers who have purchased during the year, and a handful of others get a hand stamped card. It just depends. This year was actually probably the least hand-made I have sent since joining Stampin' Up! and that is saying something. 

Christmas Love Notes

I don't know about you, but around here, life is just. so. packed. Mostly that's okay, but I am missing the creative side!! 

I made these pages in January and thought I'd save them to share in December. It's decidedly December! The photos are all the same, just for different people's books. I took the photo and we wrote the notes in December 2021. My daughter wanted the notes on punched out gingerbread men, and we taped the notes to the bedroom door of those who the note was for. 

Everything is very long retired, but there is a page for my husband and I, 

my youngest...

And this one for my son. And this one used a sketch from my scrappy friend Cheryl's blog, HERE.

Supplies:
Stamps: Whimsical Alpha Lower
Ink: Early Espresso, Real Red
Paper: Real Red, Candy Cane Lane DP
Accessories: Neutrals Candy Dots, Espresso Quilted Satin Ribbon, 1/8" Striped Ribbon, Gingerbread Man Punch
Journaling Font: Cinnamon Cake