In Memory of Gloria

Mark’s mom, Gloria, passed away Friday night. She had had a rough year health-wise. We know she is in heaven and will see her again, but it is hard to get used to the loss. Mark had traveled to Washington to see her last weekend as she was in the ICU after a heart attack. Friday afternoon she was awake and lucid and they spent the afternoon talking and catching up. I’m glad he had the opportunity to see and talk with her one more time, as there hadn’t been many chances to see her over the years.

 
credits: Mediterranean Muse by Phuong and Microferk at scrapbookgraphics.com; scraplift of LovelyMissKait's Pumpkin Patch LO; fonts: ILS Script

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Haul out the holly, put up the tree before my spirit falls again,
fill up the stockings, we may be rushing things, but deck the halls again now..….
My favorite version of this song is the version by the New Christy Minstrels that was on one of my parents Christmas LPs. This one is pretty close though.

TDC had the dress rehearsal for the holiday shows a couple of weekends ago.

credits: Countryside Christmas by Rosey Posey at scrapbookgraphics; Template 112 (modified) by Yin Designs; Nutcracker by me; fonts: CK Holiday Spirit,
TXT Santa Font

 
from scrapbookgraphics.com: Bella Joy by Randi Oh, Painted Edges by Flergs ; Template 23 (Modified) by Yin Designs; 'Winter' alpha from Blizzard by Rachel Dickson at scrapdish.com; 'wonderland' alpha from Frosted Flakes by Dani Mogstad at sweetshoppedesigns.com; Snowman from Wintry by Jessica Bolton;
fonts: Ziggy Zoe

Journaling: Beth and Carissa performed their duet in front of a real audience for the first time at the holiday show dress rehearsal. They did well and are looking forward to their performances in December.
credits: Alegria by Michelle Filo and Boutique Cute Dolls at LittleDreamerDesigns.com; DSD template by Kate Hadfield (blog freebie)
fonts: LB Ali

and I made a poster for the holiday shows that the kids will be doing at one of the local elementary schools. There is a show during the school day for the kids and then one in the evening a few days later during a PTA meeting, which is open to the public.
 
credits: One Magic Night by Flergs and Alana McCarthy at scrapbookgraphics.com; Template 15 by Yin Designs (modified); fonts: TXT Santa Font

We found out last Thursday night that Mark’s mom is in the hospital again, and Mark decided to get his part of the Christmas decorations up before he left Sunday morning to go visit her. It’s a little early for us to decorate, but I suppose with Thanksgiving being only a few days away it’s not too soon. One of the radio stations I listen to occasionally is playing holiday music all of the time already. So, the kids and I spent most of Sunday afternoon and evening getting the house spiffed up for the holidays.  It’s nice to see the twinkling lights, it surely does help lift the spirits!  I had to buy all new light strings for the tree as all of the ones we've used in the past were on the blink with obvious wiring problems- one end of the string comes on and the other end doesn't, or they just wouldn't come on at all. That burns me up as two of the strings we bought new last year. Evidently twinkling lights for the tree aren't in vogue currently as I had a hard time finding the kind I wanted. Most everything is up now. I didn’t find the ceramic Christmas tree I made that reminds me of the one Grandma Doris had; I’m sure it is buried in the storage room somewhere and I just missed the box when I was hauling things out. Oh well, next year I’ll find it. I think it is fun to rotate the decorations a bit.

Here are some photos:
   
 

Feeling Better Finally

This weekend was a very busy one, or at least it seems like it went by really quickly! LOL

I think I can finally say that I'm over the flu or cold, or whatever it was. Yesterday was the first day where I wasn't coughing much, and I didn't have to take medication to get to that state. I had a decent amount of energy all day too. In between running the kids around to where they needed to go last week, I sat and scrapped and tried not to cough on my computer too much.

Saturday we went to my mom's house in the morning to get her trailer covered for the winter and do some other little things around the house she needed help with. The kids had fun playing with the new Rusty dog. We'd only seen him once before since she got him. Then, it was home to get the oldest 3 girls ready to go to the Christmas dress rehearsal for dance groups. I had fun taking pictures of lots of different groups and soloists and had tons of photos to wade through in Lightroom after we got home.

A big snow storm moved in Saturday afternoon and with freezing temps overnight and all day Sunday, we just decided to play hookie from church and not try to rush out the door to get there on the slippery roads. We had a nice, relaxing day puttering around the house and taking care of some of the tasks that needed doing- practicing instruments, working on the twins' Egypt projects, baking holiday cookies, laundry, etc. Of course I had grand visions of how much I was going to get done that didn't materialize, but that is OK. The cake balls I made took most of the day. That probably had something to do with me starting out with a fresh pumpkin that had to be roasted and pureed, pumpkin cake baked, crumbled and mixed with frosting, chilled and then the whole dipping in candy bark part which was a huge mess. I didn't even finish dipping them all because I was tired of it and my bark was not cooperating any longer. I'll finish them up another day LOL My hat goes off to the Bakerella lady who makes such beautiful ones all of the time, because mine don't look anything like hers-at least they don't have to be pretty to taste good :P Mark spent a lot of his day trying to get some nasty program off of the computer the kids use and trying to figure out why the Norton anti-virus program wasn't working, which allowed the rather large list of nasties on there in the first place.

  credits: Simple Pleasures and Simple Pleasures Addon by Michelle Filo and One Bright Spot at LittleDreamerDesigns; Loosely Labeled (cloth sisters tag) by Katie Pertiet at DesignerDigitals; fonts: SP Wonderful Wendy

  A list of many of the places I've traveled to and some of the places I'd still like to go see.
credits: Guy Thing by Dianne Rigdon and Aja Abney, and Guy Thing with Flair at scrapartist; Jumpers 1-16 Collection by Crystal Livesay at scrapbookgraphics
fonts: TXT Scribbletti

 
credits: Victorian Christmas by Microferk and Saxon Holt at scrapbook-elements.com; Leslie's Jumpers by Crystal Livesay at scrapbookgraphics;
fonts: Vivaldi

 
One of our favorites, and it is so easy too!
credits: Recipe Book Page Kit by Ruby Rynne at scrapbookgraphics
fonts: Typewriter

 
My great-grandmother, Ethel.
credits: everything available at scrapbokgraphics: Impressions of Traditions by Scrapbookgraphics Designers; Jumper 11 from Jumpers 1-16 Collection by Crystal Livesay; bird from Rejuvenation by Veronica Spriggs
fonts: Natural Script

A friend had her beautiful baby girl at the end of October.
credits: Autumn Dreamscape by Pixel Works at scrapartist.com
fonts: Times and Times Again, Susie's Hand

Scrapbookgraphics has a new template designer, and I just love her templates! I have a hard time doing white space LOs and her fabulous templates make it a lot easier for me. Check out Crystal’s shop if you are looking for help with white space or just something new to try!

 
journaling: It’s just you and me now during the day, Sarah. I have to say that it is different with just one child at home; it is certainly a lot quieter! You are lots of fun and I enjoy spending time with just you, exploring new and old things and places. I know I tend to get a little focused on getting things done that I need to do sometimes, but you remind me that it is important to enjoy these fleeting moments as they won’t last forever. Love you, Sarah!
credits: everything from scrapbookgraphics.com: My Family Tree by Line Designs; Worn Label Alpha and A Fine Mess of Grids by Birgit Kerr; Sketch Collection 31 by Jen Caputo; Painted Edges by Flergs; white paper from White Wedding and Date Drops by Ellie Lash (retired)
fonts: SP You've Got Mail

Halloween 2009 Layouts

 
credits: Fright Delight by Holly Griego at ShabbyPickleDesigns
fonts: TXT Tough Love

journaling: We enjoy stopping at friends’ houses during trick-or-treating to see how they have dressed up for the holiday. Every few houses I would ask Sarah if she was ready to go home yet. She would look in her pumpkin bucket and then reply “No, it’s not full yet!”
credits: Fright Night by Flergs and Kaye Winieki at scrapbookgraphics; Fright Night Wordart and Orange Chipboard Alpha by Flergs at scrapbookgraphics; Leslie's Jumpers by Crystal Livesay at scrapbookgraphics
fonts: Century Gothic

P365: October 2009

 
credits: Fright Night by Flergs and Kaye Winieki at scrapbookgraphics.com; 365 Project Templates by Amy Pearson

Digital Scrapbooking Day – Come Chat with The Crew!

Digital Scrapbooking Day is Saturday, Nov 7 and celebrations and sales are going on all weekend at digital scrapbooking sites all over the web. Scrapbookgraphics has lots of fun and good deals going on this weekend including a full chat schedule. I’m hosting one of the late morning/early afternoon chats, from 1-2P EST (which is 11A-12P  my time, MST). I’ve got a free template to give out based on my family heirlooms LO that I shared earlier today. Here’s the full schedule:

All of the goodies you can get by just dropping in at the chats tomorrow can be checked out in this post on the SBG blog. Happy Digital Scrapbooking Day everyone!

Toys For Tots Charity Fundraiser

Songbird Avenue has been raising funds for various charities for over two years now, and Scrapbookgraphics is honored to be the participating designer this month. All proceeds (minus PayPal fees) from the sale of this month’s kit will be donated to Toys For Tots to help make Christmas brighter for kids who need it. All of the designers at SBG contributed to this kit along with the Songbird Ave designers and it is packed with papers and elements to help you record those precious memories! Don’t miss it!

Here is the page I made with the kit, showing off some of the treasures we found in my mom’s basement a few weeks ago when I helped her go through some of the boxes down there that hadn’t been opened after the move:
 
journaling: Exploring the boxes of family heirlooms in Grandma’s basement. There are lots of handcrafted clothing and household items, as well as a few precious toys that have been saved. Oct 13, 2009
credits: everything from Toys in the Attic at Songbird Avenue, except for the dino and tiny metal cars- those were my Dad's toys and I photographed and extracted them myself; fonts: CK Becky, CK Journaling Condensed