Top 11 in twenty11

Happy New Years everyone :)

There are still a few hours left in the year......just a few.

We are watching stupid tv and the kids are playing.

We are boring.

I'm good with boring.

NYE has never been a big deal to me.

I figure I'm still recovering from Christmas at this point ;)

I am happy to say goodbye to this year......it.has.not.been.a.good.one.

Really.

But I feel hopeful for the new year and look forward to some improvements ;) 

I'm hoping to follow the prophets council "life is to be enjoyed, not just endured"

This year has felt like shear endurance with very little joy sprinkled in.....and I'm tired of feeling like that's all there is.  I know there is much joy to be had and I'm hoping it comes a little easier this next year, without all the trials overshadowing it.

On to my top 11, this is where I document our joy.....and looking at these it reminds me of the joy I feel when I am with my children ;)  Though, you wouldn't know I have 2 boys by the looks of my top faves ;)  Sorry boys, I do have layouts of them, but I guess I have a few more girl ones.........oooops, my bad ;)

I am happy to see that I am getting better at documenting our stories, including a bit more journaling on my pages.  Though there are still "just because I LOVE the photo layouts"

 

I hope the upcoming year is filled with blessings and lots of love to all of you!

Thanks for joining me ;)

p.s.  it's 9:54 and I think my hubby is sleeping.

we are such party animals!!!!

January Fun at the Nook!

The Nook is hosting a 5 week crop starting January 7!  It's going to be super fun and stress free ;)

Our top ten challenges spread out with 2 challenges every weekend with a week to finish and prizes to win!  Check out the forum and the blog for more details ;)

You'll be seeing lots of this kit in our crop ;)

It is yummy-licious ;)

I'm loving it more than I thought I would ;)

 Remember these pics of Samantha..scrapped!

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 Found these old pics of Kristen I had completely forgotten about.

That's the bad thing with digital.  Everything ends up lost and forgotten ;)

you can get yours here ;)

December Daily & a Layout

Is it Christmas yet????

I'm exhausted, how about you??

No matter how prepared I think I am, or how not-busy I think things will be........it's never the case.

December is just busy busy and more busy!

I've been working hard on my December Daily and even managed to get a layout done last week.

I've got lots more DD pages to share, I just haven't photographed them yet.

 We started the month off with our first music concert (we've had several ;)

Kristen is learning the violin this year so it was super exciting for her to play!

Day 2 was packed with a mother daughter spa day at the school followed by a church party where Jack played a shepherd in the Nativity.  

Day 3 was our piano recital (I still need to add my journaling to this one)

 Day 4 introduces Wilson, the elf.  He got into the oreos and finished them off, leaving a bit of mess ;)

Wilson makes another appearance in the DD later on in the month.

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I was able to squeeze in one more layout with our Dec. Nook kit.

Love all the fun colors in this Crate line, and then remembered that I had these adorable pictures of Kristen on her 2nd Christmas.  Loved those rainbow tights I did!!!  She was my Christmas Cutie!

Hope your business is winding down and that you can all enjoy a beautiful holiday season....I know I'm planning to ;)

Get Picky Dec. Sketch

I'm finally getting a post up before the time is up over at Get Picky!!!!

Yay for me ;)

We've got our December sketch up for you and it was a fun one.

 

wanna know something?  i didn't even realize till i found it on my desk, that the sticker i had to go above my journaling never made it on my layout!  ha!

I had these photos on this photo strip for quite some time.  Had been planning to scrap them....eventually ;)  So glad this sketch made me pull them out!  To make the photo strips I simply opened a new 8x12 document in photoshop and dragged my photos onto it.  Putting them in a row and using the grids to make sure they were all the same size.  Then printed them at my local printer and when I cut them out I just kept them together.....easy peasy ;)

My mom made me an entire batch of strawberry jam last summer....and my girls helped.  We will be enjoying that yummy stuff for years I think!  Love it!!!

Be sure to hop on over to Get Picky and check out the prize that goes with this sketch.  You've got till Dec. 28 (australian time) that's the 27th here in America!

Winter: Vegas Style

I realize that for most of the country......fall hit a few months ago.

But here in Las Vegas, with our warmer weather....we get fall in December.

And isn't it beautiful ;)

Especially when you have a little girl who is begging you to take her to play in the leaves along the sidewalks.  Well, of course I will....with camera in tow!!!

 She had SO much fun, piling up the leaves and throwing them about.

Jumping in them and swinging on the trees.

The rest of kids could care less.  They went off to play at the nearby park.

Thank goodness I have one who'll let me take her picture.....we'll see how long that lasts.

There is something about having snow for Christmas....but honestly, I don't really miss it that much ;)

Are you ready for Christmas??????

Here's my checklist:

Shopping:  Done (mostly)

Wrapping:  Not a stitch

Homemade gifts:  in a frenzy to finish!

Christmas Cards:  Sorry, not in the budget this year ;(  we'll see if I make one to post?

Baking:  Started

December Daily:  on day 14!!!!  waaahooooo!!!

Celebrations:  in full swing ;)

Kids out of school:  YES!

Advent Winner!!

Congratulations Andrea!!!!

you are my random generator winner ;)

please email me your address carol m monson at yahoo dot com

Thanks everyone for you comments in my Advent Calender Giveaway!!!

 

Andrea Amu said...

Cute holiday inspiration, Carol! And fun giveaway stuff too! ;)

December 13, 2011 8:36 PM

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Don't forget to check the Nook Blog everyday for the next advent and be sure to comment on Leahs post to win the big prize before Christmas ;)

Confessions....

from this girl to her sister........" remember that time when I broke your boy barbies head off?

I was laughing so hard!!!"

Me  "you broke it?"

giggle giggle " ya, I ripped his head off!!!"

She likes to confess things years later.....and believe me, there have been a few.  Like the laundry room door ( that we have yet to replace!!!)  They are always followed by snickers and giggles, like she is so proud of herself for getting away with it for so long ;)

She is something else, let me tell you.  And makes me feel like the luckiest mom in the world.  She's a special one ;)

She went to her best friends birthday party last week....it was a 70's party.  I think she was born in the wrong decade ;)  Isn't she awesome!!!  Speaking of her birth.....she celebrated a new year last month.....I need to share that FOR SURE :)

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My confession:  I suck at the December Daily!!!!!

I'm only on day 4.  Isn't it like the 14th or something????

Though I do have the next 10 pictures waiting for me at Costco to pick up.

I'm finding the actual putting together not as swift as I thought......simply because I put TOO MUCH THOUGHT INTO IT!!!!

But it is my goal to get all caught up this week and share it with ya.....don't hold your breath k?  i would hate for anything to happen ;)

My Scrapbook Nook Advent Calender

...duh....forgot to say I'll draw a name Friday morning!!!

 This month at the Nook we are having an advent calendar.....everyday a new prize is being hosted and given away by a different member at the Nook.  Check out our blog everyday for the next advent ;)

Along with the everyday prizes....we've also got a BIG prize for you ;)

Hop on over to LeahKillian's blog and get entered for the grand prize sometime between now and Christmas Morning.  You could win a free subscription to the always inspiring Nook kits!"

I've got today's prize at the bottom of this post ;)

Along with the giveaway is of course a layout....some inspiration from our December kit, Crate Peppermint!!!!

Every year my kids get new pajamas on Christmas Eve.

These are always some of my most favorite photo's.

They are giddy with excitement and beaming from ear to ear ;)

Looking through my Christmas album, they are the most scrapped photo's of the season.

Here are the four of them a few years ago, when Jack was almost 2 (I think??? I've got to check the date on this one ;)

As for the giveaway, I've got a little something to share ;)

Gorgeous Jenni Bowlin Butterflies/pins/bingo cards, some fun canvas alterables/flowers and my favorite seam binding ribbon.

All you have to do is leave me a comment ;)

Thanks for looking!!!

Hope your holidays are going splendidly ;)

Get Picky Inspiration

oh my......love what this prompt reminded me to do ;)

Scrap this story about Samantha.....it makes me laugh out loud everytime!!!

 The inspiration to scrap a story....to focus on the words and the journaling.

Samantha wrote this paper in school when she was in first grade.....the teachers comment just steps it all up a notch!

"I get mad wen I have to do my chros (chores).  All I do is shav (shove) stuf under my bed.  Inless (unless) it's something spshal (special).  Sometimes I have to make my bed or clean my bed.  Allso sometimes I have to clean under my bed.  That's tarabal (terrible) (insert teachers comment:  Especially after you shoved everything under there!)  I hate to clean!!!


I hope you'll have a chance to play along ;)

Get Picky is right over here ;)

December at the Nook!

I've been so anxious to get this kit!

It's filled with the gorgeous Crate Paper Peppermint Collection!!!!

Loooooooove ;)

I've got a class for you over at the message board and blog showing you how to use your packaging ;)

Go check it out ;)

We've got a lot of fun happening at the Nook this month.....for starters, an Advent Calender with giveaways everyday leading up to the grand finale prize that you can find over at Leahs blog ;)

Everyday on the Nook blog we'll be posting who is hosting the giveaway for the day....I'll be up one day next week so be sure to check back ;)

Getting Ready for December

This year i've caved from peer pressure and am making a december daily album.

really just want to document the everyday....of our december, the whole shabang!

this is my test to see if i can really do "project life", a daily documentation of 2012, which i'm really anxious to do!!!!  It might sound crazy to some of you, but i think it's amazing and despite all my scrapbooking efforts, I don't have a lot of the everyday, real life.  I know having had something like this of my family when i was growing up would be a gold mine for me.  So I've got big plans and I think it will be amazing to have when it's all said and done.  Here's a link to the project life website to see what I'm talking about....

anyhewwww.....here's a few pics of my december daily album.....i've been working on it but not going to share anymore until I actually start filling the pages ;)

I started by collecting everything I might want.....went with an old October Afternoon line I've been hanging onto, along with anything else that matched.

 I used some chipboard shapes as my album covers then used file folders that I cut down for my insides.  I'm covering those with my paper.

 Here are a few of the inside pages....i've just about got all my pages done for the whole month, so it shouldn't be too hard to fill in everyday, it shouldn't.

Get Picky Nov. Sketch

sadly......is past.

i feel badly that i wasn't able to get this posted earlier....but you know.

the blog was on vacation, apparently!!!

I So loved this sketch, I didn't know it at first.

Don't usually do much with circles/ovals.

But these pics have been floating from paper to paper, waiting to be scrapped and nothing ever felt right so they always got pushed to the side.  

But alas, they finally made there way onto a page and I loooooove it!!!!

Hope you enjoy, thanks for looking ;)

My little Samantha....always the life of the party, even at ONE!!!

Used a bit of Studio Calico and Sassafras here ;)

November Kit at My Scrapbook Nook

Hallelujah!!!!

My blog is fixed ;)

Such a weird problem.......I'd pulled my Little Yellow Bicycle layouts off of THEIR blog and for some reason those pics killed my blog.  I've done that before, pulling stuff I need off other locations.  But as soon as I removed them from the post everything went back to normal.  Fan-freakin'-tastic ;)

So here are my overdue Nook layouts for November......it's a good thing too, since I've got our HOT december kit in my hands already.....wahoooooo!!!!

The November kit was from Echo Park, Times and Seasons.

It's a beautiful kit, though a bit dark and vintagy for my taste.

To lighten things up a bit I like to use white backgrounds.  This line has some really awesome prints in it that I thought were perfect for Disneyland....so all my layouts are from there.....fun hu!!!!

 This picture has been on my MUST SCRAPBOOK list for quite a few years.  So glad this kit reminded me of it......I think it's a perfect match and so happy to have my way too cute Kristen documented with Ariel!!!!

 Been wanting to try the chevron pattern thingy that's all the rage right now.  Love how these patterns worked together and suited Goofy so well ;)

 Another Ariel picture....the colors here went so well with her tail.

 I think the stripe in here was my favorite pattern....pulled out Minney and Mickey for this one.  Pictures from our trip last year.  Finally got some good pictures as they've moved Mickey outside instead of in ;)

While the Nook is repairing it's message board you can find all our fun challenges and inspiration on our new blog!!!!

Go here!!!!