Sew Easy

gee what a clever title, huh?

Katrina received a Singer sewing machine for Christmas from her Aunt Amy. I guess it's easier to sew with your tongue sticking out. :P



There's my bike in the background. Erik cleaned it up for me. I can't wait to go riding again.

Donner eats his own poop

or, Santa finally made it to our house.

Due to the gigantic snowstorm somewhere, Santa was late arriving at our home. He usually arrives on Christmas Eve about 6 pm. However, this year, he didn't make it until 5 AM Christmas Day.

Santa passed out presents while the dogs sniffed and sniffed him. Katrina warned Santa that "Gigi eats her own poop."

Santa didn't seem to mind because he said, "That's ok. Donner eats his own poop, too."



I like how Liberty is looking at him out of the corner of her eye. I think she's licking her lips, too. Hmmmm....

C is for Cake

This is another layout for October Afternoon's blog. Thanks again for choosing me as your guest designer for December! :)

They're all black and white

We're having a dog slumber party. My grandfather died on Friday and my parents left to help take care of the arrangements. They have two dogs - Grady and Molly.

My sister was unable to watch the dogs tonight, so I offered to take them. I guess it's a good thing that Erik was ok with this. I made the arrangements while he was out of town over the weekend.

We're going to stay up late, watch scary dog movies and pop some popcorn.

I've noticed that there is very little difference between 3 dogs and 5 dogs. They're all still in my way and I'm always tripping over them. With 3 Border Collies in the house now, I'm always being herded towards the pantry with the treats.

Since all five of them are black and white, I can never tell at first glance who is who. If someone is misbehaving, I go through all five names before I get it right.

"Zoe!"
"Molly!"
"Gigi!"
"Grady!"
"Liberty!" Oh, it's Liberty. It's always Liberty.

Winter Woodland

I love this new cart from Cricut. The challenge this week at BBTB was to use the branch. The bunny and squirrel are from the same cart. Everthing was cut at 1 1/2 inches.



Cardstock: Prism
Patterned Paper: BasicGrey
Stamps: Technique Tuesday

Getting impatient

We took less pictures this year than we have in past years. I don't know what their problem was. We were at El Encantada at 7:45 this morning to take photos. Yes, it was a little cold but we promised them hot chocolate and cinnamon rolls if they behaved. They let me take their pictures while they stood there and tried not to look cold. I screwed up and forgot my gray card. We took about 60 pictures and I HATED every single one of them.

I was an absolute mess when I got to work. I was so worried about the pictures. We were late getting these taken and I didn't know what we were going to do. Erik promised me we would do something this afternoon after work. The kids got dressed again and I dug out the gray card and the tripod.

The first batch I hated, too. well, actually I liked them but I wasn't watching and I cut off their hands in the pics. We had to do it again.

The kids moaned and groaned and I just sat casually on the couch and told them we could do this all day. I was barking out orders; turn to the right, scoot over a little, no that's too much, Trent put your chin down, try to keep your eyes open, etc. etc.


Ok, try not to keep your eyes open that much.


Katrina had enough of this and she gave me the "Yes, Ma'am" salute.



This is not the picture we're using for Christmas cards but it sums up the experience pretty well.

We decided to use this one. It's not at our favorite outdoor mall (which is tradition in this house) but it will have to do.

I'm still grumpy about the whole thing.

Cheetos Smile

Fancy Pants Rough & Tough. Have a great weekend everyone. I have to work. grrrrrr....

JOTS ornament

Thanks for looking. :D This was made for this week's BBTB challenge. We were to use the ribbon frame from the Joys of the Season cart. I decided to turn it into an ornament. Stamps are Technique Tuesday.

That's How I Roll

Sassafras Lass Journaling Tag Stickers are on sale at Peek this week. :D

Katrina always wears her hair like this - a head band and just ONE barrette. I think it's kinda funny.

There's something wrong with Troy

I'm absolutely determined to do a December journal this year. I'll take a picture every day and maybe sometime next November I'll have time to put it all together. I've decided the album is going to be a mix of stuff like Christmas cards and envelopes, maybe a catalog page with toys circled, wrapping paper pieces, etc. It won't be acid free but it will be kinda fun. ;)

Anyway, in preparation for new Christmas toys, I started cleaning out Kat's toy box. This is when I found Troy. I had to convince Katrina that we should really throw him away. She wanted to keep him because he still sings.

This will be a great picture for my December album. I'm excited. Maybe I'll get it done by June.

October Afternoon

Thank you, October Afternoon, for choosing me to be December's Guest Designer. I am truly honored. :D I've been a fan of October Afternoon since their first release.

Here's one of the first layouts I did for them. It's using their new line, Farm Fresh:



I also used some paint and clear glaze. I LOVE the alphabet cards from the Report Card collection. I think I'm going to buy a second set when Pat gets them in.