What's Happening....

Hey y'all! I know it's been a long time since I have been around this ole blog! And I have a lot of catching up to do!!
First, I want to share a gift bag that I recently made & embellished with flair from The Crafty Pickle. By the way, the shop had reopened so you can find all your flair button needs and more there!! And lots of new products have ben added!

 

I added the hearts flair button to the top of the fabric rosette and love the way this simple but sweet gift bag turned out!

 

While it's not a Christmas gift bag, it will be perfect to present to my daughter with a small gift or gift card for her 13th birthday next week! I am at a loss for words as we embrace on teenagehood. I can't believe Leah has reached this stage already!! I must say, for the most part, we are pretty lucky-she's a great kid!

 

Speaking of Christmas & he holidays, are you ready?! I am almost done shopping, however, have not done much in the way of decorating. We hosted Thanksgiving dinner for the family here this year so we were pretty busy preparing for that. Now I seem to have lost all motivation to get ready for Christmas! Hoping I find it soon!!! We did have a special guest arrive on December first:

Ty was so excited to see "Countdown" when he got home from school the other day! He had been asking when he would arrive for weeks!! The Season is upon us!

Make it a great one!

~Stephanie

  

 

  

Christmas Mini Album-Nani ke Ola

Hi again y'all! Happy Friday!! Are you ready for the big day? I am getting there & am so excited!

While I love looking at all of the December Daily albums flooding Pinterest & blogs this time of year, I just couldn't make myself create one. I tried a few time several years in a row & was never able to complete the album. There is just entirely too much going on & I didn't want the stress of tackling another project. I did, however create a simple mini album to hold some favorite photos from this season. I have used mainly all products from Pretty Little Studio's Holiday Cheer collection.

I started with a naked chipboard album & covered the pages in an assortment of PLS patterned papers. I used my new favorite punch, the deer head from EK Success; silver foil numbers; wood veneer diamond shapes; the "Merry Christmas" die cut & a Santa flair from PLS to create my cover.

I "wrapped it up" with a pretty black bow and it's done!

The silver glitter paper, doily & chipboard snowman are from my stash, but everything else seen here is from Pretty Little Studio. I just adore this collection & found it so much fun to create with! I cut some triangles out of paper to mimic mountains & punched some snowflakes to create a winter scene.

Even the packaging of these products is fabulous! Here I used the insert from the flair buttons.

 

 

  I am relieved that I have at least a small album completed to place some holiday photos in! What about you-are you doing a December Daily this year? You can find the Holiday Cheer  collection, and so much more, in the Nani ke Ola store.

Thanks for stopping by! Make it a crafty day!!

~Stephanie

   

 

   

SNS Reveal #47

Hi y'all!
Things have been so busy around here that I never got a chance to share the latest sketch reveal from Sketch N Scrap!
Here is the fun sketch designed by co-owner Kelly Holifield:

We are teaming up with Scrap Our Stash for this sketch challenge and your requirement is to use 2 border punches and another type of punch on your layout to qualify for the prize we have lined up for one lucky winner at the end of the month! So yes, you will have TWO prize chances for this particular sketch challenge this time since you will be able to upload at SNS and over at Scrap Our Stash!

Here is my layout:

I used the Silent Night collection from October Afternoon, which was my December kit from Memorable Seasons.

I used 2 of my Fiskars border punches & my star punch here.

 
This kit has been so much fun to create with! The photo is from last December when we took a trip to NYC. We saw "Mary Poppins" on Broadway. It was an amazing show!!  

If you get the chance to play along with this super fun sketch, be sure to link up back at Sketch N Scrap for a chance to win these adorable mini bags from Webster's Pages:

  

Here are the details:

1. Make sure and link back to Sketch N Scrap in your blog post when sharing our sketch OR a layout or card based on our sketch.

2. Link your layout or card up by clicking on the Froggy link in the sidebar

NOTE: Don't forget to link to the direct post of this weeks challenge on your blog.  

Have fun! We can't wait to see what you create! :) 

Remember each submission will give you ONE entry into our monthly random draw for a chance to win the December prize! 

 

Thanks for stopping by today!!

~Stephanie

Winner, Winner & December Daily

Hi y'all & happy Hump Day!

I forgot to post the winner here yesterday from the Sketch N Scrap Holiday blog hop. I used random generator to choose the winner from the 12 comments, & number 11, Sandi is the winner! Please email me at dreweaken@comcast.net your physical address so that I can send you your goodies!

I also wanted to share my finished December Daily album that I started LAST YEAR & never completed!! I am notorious for doing this with my mini albums! Sometimes they sit for months & I don't touch them. I may create a few pages at a time, & most of the time, this works fro me!
I used this Teresa Collins Christmas Countdown memory album kit:

 
Here are my finished pages (minus the photos & journaling):

While the kit was chock full of goodness, I also added a lot of things from my stash. I love to mix and match & pull from what I already have.
If you want to see the beginning pages of the album, check out this post.

So I finished this DD album just in time to start this year's!! Are you all creating a Decemeber Daily this year? What album are you using? I'm always looking for a good one!

Have a fabulous day!
Stay scrappy....
~Stephanie   

That Time of Year

Hello all!
I have wanted to post for a while now, but the days fly by & there just isn't enough time. Not enough time to shop, clean, decorate, sleep, blog, scrap, & on & on & on.....yep, it's that busy time of year!
And to top it all off, Leah & I are sick right now!! Really hoping it passes quickly!

Leah turned 9 (yes people, 9!!!) on Saturday & we took her to Great Wolf Lodge for the weekend. That is her favorite place in the world & exactly what she wanted for her birthday. She had a blast & said to me at one point while there, "this is the best birthday ever"! That makes it all worth it!     

Check out the birthday tiara! It's all about the bling for this one!

We have been busy trying to get our house & tree ready for the season. The tree has been an ordeal this year! But Christmas will still come even if it's not done perfectly, right?!

I have not had much time at all to work on my December Daily album & am actually falling behind now! Oh well, it will give me something to work on in the days after Christmas. I'll try to post pictures of more pages later. Hope you all are enjoying the warmth, love & magic of this season!

  

December Daily

Happy December!! Am I the only one finding it so hard to believe that it is the first of December already?!
While this is a crazy, hectic & beyond busy time of year, it's also lots of fun, exciting & my very favorite season! So to add another project seems crazy, right? Yes, but not if it's something you enjoy doing. I decided to play along with Ali Edwards (www.aliedwards.com/blog) & make a December daily album this year. I made one in 2009 & still enjoy looking back at it. Though I  have not finished pre-making all of my pages, I wanted to share what I have gotten done thus far. And I promised myself not to stress over this project-it will get done when it gets done! The important thing is to photograph our daily activities & to enjoy the season!!
Here is a photograph of some of the supplies I started with & the album cover. (This album was purchased a couple years ago & has been waiting to be put to good use! It's a canvas album from Donna Downey.)

Here are days 1-8:

I hope to get more pages completed soon & will share as I go along!

Have a great day!!