Happy New Year!

As soon as we arrived home from Indianapolis, I decided to whip up my 2012 calendar. I was so excited to find these fabulous month tags, complete with dates, from Elle's Studio (no more stamping and writing in the dates!)

I love these little calendars, it's a quick and easy way to capture memories throughout the year. Wishing you all a happy New Year and a blessed 2012. ♥

The halls are decked!

Today's post is for friends and family far away. Since we can't get together in Tennessee for the holidays, I just wanted to share a few pics of our holiday decor. From our house to yours, with love...

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend! xoxo

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

With all the hustle and bustle of shopping, wrapping, baking, etc., it's important to remember to capture the quiet little moments that make you smile (and that you want to hold on to forever.) Here are a few of those shots I captured in the last few days...

Trying to squeeze some crafty time in during December is really hard, but I've managed to do a few layouts. The first, is a layout I created using Pink Paislee's Snow Day collection. The pics are from last January but they've been waiting patiently for the perfect paper to come along. I think you'll agree that this is it!

The following are the first couple of pages of my December album. (You may click on image to view it enlarged.)

I'm using Cocoa Daisy's December kit, Teresa Collins Christmas Home, along with other things from my collection.

Tonight is Christmas movie night, along with popcorn cooked on the stovetop with real butter! (My dear husband has this perfected!) Wishing you all a lovely weekend!

Christmas Album

It's the time of year to start thinking about my December album. Last year, I was so excited... I bought an 8x8 album, spent a lot of time getting the cover just right and then completely lost my mojo. I deconstructed that album and just did regular layouts. Looking back on it, I realized the problem was the size of the album. There is no way I can cram all my December pics into an 8x8 album.

This year, I purchased the Holiday kit from Cocoa Daisy and I'm using an 8 1/2 x 11 album. Today, I did my album cover and I'm really pleased with the results. Deciding on what to use for the cover is always the hardest part for me, but I knew I had to use the snowflake template from the kit.

Here is my kit with a few other pieces thrown in...

American Crafts 8 1/2x11 album

I adhered some Bazzill kraft cardstock to the album and coated with Mod Podge. (I used painter's tape to protect the binder fabric) I then used Glimmer Mist Sand to spray the template. I also outlined the template with a Gelly Roll glitter pen and did some embossing to the snowflakes.

I added a little ribbon along the edge of the fabric, some bling in the snowflakes, stamped the title and here is the final result...

There are so many wonderful ways to document the Holidays -- it doesn't matter which method you choose as long as you DO it! I'd love to see how you preserve your Holiday memories. Post a link in the comment section to share yours!

Our Thanksgiving

What a beautiful day we had yesterday -- gorgeous weather, yummy food, and the company of wonderful friends. I'm a blessed (and grateful) girl! Today, I'm just sharing a few pics from our fun day.

Today we'll be decorating for Christmas, but first, I must finish my coffee! Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend!

Why attend an on-line crop?

When I told my husband that I would be "attending" a couple of on-line crops last weekend, he looked at me like I was crazy. I don't think he understands the power of the message boards. lol We no longer have a local scrap store, so rather than cut myself off completely from scrappy friends, I chose to jump in with both feet into some fabulous scrappy sites.
I recently discovered a wonderful site, Cocoa Daisy -- not only do they have wonderful kits, exclusive stamps, etc., they also have an amazing design team, sure to get you inspired

Here are the layouts I completed...

Not only was I inspired creatively, I also met some fun-loving ladies that know how to enjoy life. (p.s. Thanks for all the laughs!) If you're needing some inspiration, you should stop by here!
Have a fabulous weekend, thank you for stopping by!