Wednesday, December 31, 2008
day 13 + Happy New Years {eve}
How to build a snowman :) Thought this was a cute page for Day 13.
What are your New Year's Eve plans? We are running errands today and then I think we're going to do a chocolate fondue with the kids & have them go on a present hunt. Nothing major at all, just a couple little goodies to make the day a wee bit exciting :) They love to bang pots & pans at midnight {for them this is done at 9pm and our neighbours *will* wonder WHAT is wrong with us! LOL}, but they'd never last until midnight... not sure we will either! :)
Hope your season is bright!
.j.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Merry Christmas...
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
day 12 - Baby it's Cold Outside!
Merry Christmas Eve to everyone. Every year we do a Christmas Eve hunt where the kids (and adults) get a clue on a slip of paper. That clue leads them to the next clue... which eventually leads them to a gift. Fun little tradition. So we will do that tonight once daddy gets home from work. He works until about 7:30pm (gotta hate 12 hour shifts!!) so the kids are having a little quiet time right now.
I've been jotting down notes & snapping photos, but I'm sure I won't get the last week done in my album until after Grandma & Grandpa go home -- and that's OK. I have a few pages to show you over the next few days.... This was a crazy one! Megan came rushing in & told me to come outside and bring my camera. It was probably around -30 out there and those silly monkeys decided to bury Joshua in the snow (think beach, sun & sand!!) and he was FREEZING by the time I got out there. As soon as he heard the 'click', he was OUTTA of there (and in the house for some hot cocoa!!) :)
'twas the night before Christmas....
Merry Christmas!!
.j.
Monday, December 22, 2008
Day 10 still coming... here's Day 11
'twas the night before {our} Christmas....
.j.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Day 9 -
Blessings...
.j.
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Have an ice day!
.j.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Day 8
I hope you're finding your own quiet moments in the busy time ....
Merry Christmas,
.j.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Day 7
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Day 6
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Day 5 on Day 16
Here's day 5. It was an afternoon of play days. My oldest was at a friend's house and Joshua had a friend over and Sarah... finally Sarah... had her special friend come over. Since the move she has not had one play day. When we came home from school, tears were in her eyes as the older two ran off with their buddies and she said "when will I have a friend mommy?" Awwww. So, inside we came, looked in the phone book for her little friend at school, having no idea what mom's name was and gave it a try. Sure enough it was the right number & Phoenix was allowed to come over for lunch & some playtime. I decided to pull out my stamping supplies and you girls had so much fun creating little notebooks! Definitely a day to remember!!
Monday, December 15, 2008
Teacher Christmas Gifts
Here's a close up of our 'recipe card'.
'twas the week before Christmas.....
.j.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
...and the laundry continues.
When they were feeling well... only a week ago! :) hopefully it'll be over soon & we'll be back in full swing!
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Setting up the Christmas Tree + Day 4
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
A little Day Two + Day three
So here's day one (backside) where I added the actual scone recipe that was featured in the photo for that day. I posted that recipe a couple days ago - anyone try it yet?! YUM. You can see a hint of day three behind behind day two's 6x6 page.
Here's a closer look:
Monday, December 08, 2008
Evolving Monkey
Over the weekend I also got a page or two done on the journal so I hope to post a pic in the next day or two (camera battery died today - hate that!). So... stay tuned for those photos as well. Other than that I didn't get much stamping done -- lots of family time though -- and isn't that what weekends are all about? :)
enjoy your Monday,
.j.
Sunday, December 07, 2008
Sunday Moments + Marbled Scones
4c. flour
1/3c. sugar
4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp. baking soda
2/3 cup. Butter
1-1/3 cup buttermilk
2 tsp. vanilla
¼ cup chocolate chips, melted
**Heat oven to 425. Grease baking sheet. In large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt & baking soda. Cut in butter until mixture resembles course crumbs. Remove 1-1/4cup flour mixture to med-size bowl. In small bowl, combine buttermilk & vanilla.
In cup, combine 1/4cup buttermilk mixture and the chocolate. Add remaining buttermilk mix to remaining flour mix in large bowl & mix lightly with fork until it clings tog. & forms a soft dough. Add choc. mix to the reserved 1-1/4c. flour mixture in med-size bowl & stir with fork until it forms a soft dough. Turn both doughs out onto lightly floured surface’ divide choc. dough into 6 pieces. Dot 3 pieces over plain dough. Fold over and dot with remaining 3 pieces. Knead to marbleize. Divide dough in half. Roll one half of dough into a 7” round. Cut into eights. Repeat with other half. Place scones 1” apart on greased baking sheet. Pierce tops with tines of fork.
Bake 15-18 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm.
Saturday, December 06, 2008
Party Mouse
Weekend is here, snow is all around... Christmas lights are up & glowing -- I love this time of year, don't you?
.j.
Friday, December 05, 2008
The weekend + Family Time (Day Two)
Day Two:
I used a Stampin' Up! 6x6 scrapbook page here (just had to add an extra hole so it sat correctly in the book). Every year I hang up the advent quilt. I made this when Megan (the oldest) was two years old -- so it's been around for many years as she's now 11, nearly 12! It's a scene of a village of houses {25}, all in a snowy day.... each *roof* lifts up creating a pocket and the treat goes inside. Cute eh? It was so fun to make. When Megan was little I just put a little treat in there and then along came Joshua.... so two treats went in. When Sarah came along it was hard to fit 3 treats in some of the smaller houses, so I would put in a little clue on those days and they'd have to go and hunt for their little goodie. They LOVED that. Now every day is a clue for each of them. They are so excited to come home after school & get their little piece of paper that holds the clue for their little treat. My challenge is to come up with 25 clues for each child -- that's 75 hiding places!! LOL. It's so fun though -- when Daddy is home, I even include him on the hunt! I didn't want to crop this photo as it wouldn't fit as nicely on the page. So I added eyelets & snaps on the one side for a bit of visual appeal. Apparently a door-jam isn't that pretty... even in the soft creamy light I captured! *smiles*
What is a family Christmas tradition you have?
.j.
Thursday, December 04, 2008
Day One.
I think everyone has a hard time with their own printing (except if your Ali Edwards!). I really wanted to FORCE myself to at least have a page or two with my printing, so I thought I'd get it over with on day one :) It really is nice to have the pages done ahead of time and all I need to do is add the photos & a few embellishments.
Has anyone else taken the challenge to do a December journal?
.j.
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
December's Journal - Title page
So I wanted to keep the title page simple -- this whole project for me is simplicity. Recording the memories & keeping it simple (so I stick with it!!). So here is the title page: (I was lazy and grabbed my little Samsung point & shoot, pocket camera so the pic isn't great).
I used red chipboard sticker letters for 'December' and the '08'. I printed off the photo in a large format, but didn't like the quality so I used that as my layer (couldn't throw it out!) and then printed it again a bit smaller to have the detail. I went to my button stash that my girls color sorted for me (how fabulous was that -- needed green & red and there they were! love that!) and then had a few metal embellishments (snowflake after December and a little tree amongst the buttons). Onto Day one...
.j.
Tuesday, December 02, 2008
Chocolate Chunk Granola Bars
Monday, December 01, 2008
December First.
Today will be day one in my December journal with the kids... will have to take a photo. It will probably be about the start of Christmas baking. It's chocolate almond biscotti today -- house is smelling delicious! Check out 'recipes' in my side bar links for the recipe! It's so yummy to dunk in coffee, tea or hot cocoa! Mmmmmm.
Here's another card that will be used as a thank-you this holiday season. It has orange in it, so it'll be one Sarah will use. I never thought of putting orange & red together, but orange is her fav. color & red is festive, so I thought I'd give it a try :)
Merry Christmas!
.j.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
My Monkey.
I used the 'make a wish' sentiment by MFT and the window punch to "cut" it out. A couple brads at the top to balance it all out... and... done! Putting together cards with the images already colored sure does make it feel quick & simple! :)
Middle of the week -- how ya doing?! How's the Christmas prep coming?
.j.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Hiding a mistake
My kids loved this little mouse and thought it was cute he "even had icing on his hands!" :) My number one cards are birthday cards.... so I thought this little guy could help replenish my birthday card stash! The process on this one... ran the base through the cuttlebug, and the pumpkin pie designers paper is from Stampin' Up!. I got a new set of stamps by Clear Expressions (by Hampton Art) called Birthday Best & that's where the sentiment is from. I'm looking forward to playing with this new set & seeing what I can come up with :) Accessories are some organdy ribbon (stampin' up!) and large flower eyelets, pink (stampin' up!), flower is from prima & the little yellow brad was from my stash -- unknown! I finally got all my brads/eyelets organized! Feels good to go to that basket & have it all there organized! I colored on my new fav Neenah paper with my Copic makers. I'm hoping Santa brings me a few new colors! :)
.j.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Good Morning Monday!
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Friday, November 21, 2008
Hello Weekend -
All those fall colors are gone now -- we are knee deep in snow, big blue skies... so very pretty. It sure does make it feel Christmasy!! On the island it was hard to get into the excitement of Christmas so early with all the muck & rain - the city here turned all its lights on last night & it feels SO festive. Need to get our little outdoor lights up this weekend too I think! :) Enjoy your weekend & family time -
.j.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Soccer life is back!
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Nothing new.
enjoy your day - stay warm!
.j.
Monday, November 17, 2008
We started
The "cover" is just chipboard (cardboard!) that is cut 8.5" square. I'm working at covering that. All the inside pages vary.... I didn't have as many *cool* papers as Ali does over on her blog, but we were creative & worked with what we had on hand. We cut some papers 6x8.5... others an even square, we used a 6" square vellum envelope, a 6x6 scrapbook insert, assorted design papers cut in different widths & heights and even cut up a baseball card file keeper. I'm excited to see it all come together. I love it that it doesn't have to be perfect. So I'm writing in my daytimer to pull out the photo printer and get it SET UP (yes... it's still packed with more boxes than I will ever admit!!) the week before December. We'll be printing our photos often!! If you're going to play along and work on a book, please post a link in the comments -- I'd love to see your progression as well.
Merry Christmas!
.j.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Documentation....
I love this idea she posted about a December journal scrapbook:
http://aliedwards.typepad.com/_a_/2008/10/december-daily.html
You really should check it out. I think I'm going to have the kids help me work on this today. It'll be a nice lazy activity after church - as we look out at the white, fluffy snow.....
yup - I just might! Stay tuned :)
.j.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Busy Weekend.
I also hope to stamp & have a few more things to share with you, but for the weekend, I'll share a recipe with you -- some comfort treats :) If you have a bread machine this is SO easy. Mine broke (I only used it for dough anyway).... if not, you'll have to make the dough on your own, but - it is worth it :)
Combine first 5 ingredients in a 2-cup glass measure. Microwave at high for 3 min. Cool 5 min. Follow manufacturer's instructions for placing milk mixture, flour, yeast & egg into bread machine, & select dough cycle. Start machine. I'm going to give this a try with the regular "old-fashioned" bread making process -- I'll let you know how it goes.
Remove dough from machine (do not bake!). Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, & knead 30 sec. Cover dough, let rest 10 min. Divide the dough into 24 equal portions, shaping each into a ball. Cover remaining dough to keep from drying). Combine 1/2 cup granulated sugar & rind. Dip each ball into 1/4 cup melted butter, & roll in sugar mixture. Place balls in bottom of a 10" tube pan (I've also used a bundt pan) coated with cooking spray. Cover & let rise in a warm place (oven with the light on is good), Free from drafts, 45 min. or until double is size.
preheat oven to 350 degrees
Bake at 350 for 35 min. Cool in pan 5 min. on a wire rack' remove bread from pan. Cool bread 15 min on wire rack.
combine 1/2 cup powdered sugar & orange juice. Drizzle mixture over loaf, and serve warm.
YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!
.j.
Friday, November 14, 2008
A collection of tips.
One was SHARPENING your PUNCHES! Do you find that your punches are getting dull? After you punch something you see a torn or tattered edge... no longer that smooth, crisp finish? Have you heard the latest.... goodbye sandpaper... hello popcan?
Check out Linda's blog for a video tutorial... I think I just might have to try this one!
http://lindastamps.wordpress.com/2008/11/09/stampbusters-sharpening-your-punches-with-soda-cans/
I have been struggling with the Crop-o-dile. I admit it, I was challenged. Of course now I just figured out I was doing it BACKWARDS! Ack. Where has my brain gone?! Then on top if it I was always curious as to what settings to use... well. Marie Kirkwood had a great idea, check her blog out here:
http://marielovestostamp.blogspot.com/2008/11/crop-dile-tip.html
The last one I wanted to share with you is a repeat... I've shown you this one before, but it's a great collection of scrapbooking sketches from Elsie -- who is such a fun scrapper!!
A few friday tips... enjoy your weekend!
.j.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Not everyone loves pink.
I am almost done all my Christmas cards... whew... big job. Looking forward to playing with some of my new stamps as well as making up some tags for Christmas gifts. I guess my next project will be teacher gifts -- I was happy to hear from a couple of you as to what you were doing this year, if you haven't posted a comment, I'd love to hear more ideas !!! :)
Exactly SIX MORE WEEKS until Christmas... I KNOW!!! That means only 5 shopping weekends left! It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here.... snow is falling!!
Enjoy your day,
j.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Shakin' Birthday!
The base is Almost Amethyst - one of my favorite SU colors! I ran it through my favorite (at this moment) cuttlebug folder Swiss Dots. I don't have the scallop punches so I use my slit punch to make the scallop border. If you don't mind the little bit of time, it's $7.50 instead of $19.95 ;) Then I'm still in my USE IT UP MODE and I pulled out my diamond brads (from the old SU Vintage Brads) that are NOT my favorite, but seem to work with this card. The sentiment 'birthday wishes' is a rub on. I find that stamps don't stamp well & clear on the textured cardstock, so I always grab my rub ons for that.
Enjoy your day!
.j.