The Ultimate Scrapbooking Project... begins January 1st!

Last week, my husband and I watched the movie Julia & Julie and I found it to be heart warming, touching and inspiring. What an amazing accomplishment...not just the cooking and recipes but the feeling of completion that Julie must have felt. She took something that she had a passion for, challenged herself, and finished as a more confidant individual! I have re-watched this movie at least 8 times since then, and each time, I have thought to myself...I need to do something like this...to find purpose, to find my soul, to get help me get my pages done--after all, I have three children, and at my pace, they will be 500 before I am ever caught up. I don't mean that I have to be caught up, I don't anticipate ever being caught up, however, I do find myself frustrated when I start a project and don't have time to finish it as a have to hurry to another task that has priority.

The project that I am thinking would help me stay on task and purpose. So what is my Ultimate Scrapbooking Challenge? Like Julie, I would like to work my way through an entire book...but instead of Julia Child's cookbook (of which I think would be fascinating as well) I want to work my way through a resource book that I too adore...Close To My Heart's How To Books...and not just one, but all five books: Reflections, Cherish and Imagine for Scrapbooks and Originals and Wishes for cards. I have set guidelines for myself as well: my challenge is to complete one layout for each pattern in each book as well to incorporate each of the sidebar tips in a layout somewhere. Each layout will have to be a new layout that I have created since I began the challenge and must be started and completed as such. Imagine and Cherish are all 2 page spreads so those are easy to compute however, Reflections has 1 page spreads that have complimenting pages...for this book...each 1 page spread will be created at least once. Some might need to be used twice for complimentary benefits.

So there it is. On paper (well, the Internet) to help hold myself accountable! That is 150 Layouts and 184 Cards in 365 days.

Highlights of Christmas

I hope that you and yours had a wonderful Christmas. We had to do a little altering of our original plans because of the weather that we received and the weather that was anticipated, but we tried to make the best of it for our children. Seeing their faces on Christmas morning as they played with their new treasures made all of the rearranging, and the stress, worth it. They were happy and that is what mattered the most. It would not have been the same if we had gotten stuck somewhere and had to spend the holiday by ourselves in a hotel room...I had to spend Christmas in an airport one year all by myself and it was heart braking.

I find myself ever year trying to make sure everything is perfect...I want to bring happiness to everyone that I care about and ultimately in doing so, I also find myself sick every Christmas. This year was the same, but then I just decided that is "is what it is" (thanks Mama Gail) and instead of trying to be super mom/woman I would do what I could and then tweak! In doing so, we spent Tuesday going to see the Legendary Santa and having a fun day and I ended up not making my own Christmas cards. We sent out photo cards instead. And surprisingly, I was fine with it. I still got to make Christmas cards this year...for my parents, in-laws and brother & sister-in-law to send out, just not my own. But I was able to spread my cheer that way. And we still have some Christmas goodies that we didn't get to make because of me being sick and then the blizzard last weekend, so instead of being heartbroken, we are going to still make them this week and spread cheer a little late! And surprising again, I am okay with that. Actually, I am really looking forward to it, as we can bake without the stress of hurry, hurry, hurry and enjoy our time together more.

I thought I would share a few of the highlights of our Christmas Eve and Christmas morning!

Morning view - breathtaking!

The calm before the storm!

Nine years in the making - Jay finally got his stocking!
" Look mommy, there are no pictures! "
The girls are loving Twilight...so the Twilight guys and their guys make the perfect pictures!

"I hope you dance like no one is watching"

Cookies for Santa.

White Bear!! In a game--how cool!

Abby and her Tinkerbell.

Santa remembered the Handy Manny Toolbox!

Again, Merry Christmas to you and yours!!

Blog Winner!

Congrats to Leslie! Your are my blog candy winner! Please e-mail me at: inallsassiness@juno.com and send me your snail mail address so that I can send you your prize!

Thanks for all who have been following my blog! I love to see others enjoy my art, thoughts, and pictures.

Merry Christmas!!

Tonya

Anticipation...a sneak peek!

The Launch of CTMH's new Spring 2010 Idea Book is almost here, so I thought I would post a little sneak peak of my favorite Paper Collection: Topstitch! I love this collection! It shouts "baby" to me...and because of the pinks and the blues, could easily be used for boys and girls! Here, I altered a Memory Keeper box to make a keepsakes for my brother and sister-in-law who are expecting in May. I adore how the box turned out! I also created a simple coordinating journal with our new Journals! To see more of this beautiful collection, visit my website when it goes live January 1st!

Practically Perfect in every way...

(except for when posing for pictures!!)

...a favorite expression from one of my favorite movies...Mary Poppins, but it defines our day yesterday (well, actually two days ago now as I am still up late with a sick child). Last weekend, we had to cancel two Christmas' and our Trip to see the Legendary Santa because of the blizzard and the children were heart-broken. However, because of all the snow, my mom and Jay ended up having Tuesday off from school so we spontaneously made a trip to Richmond to see the Santa. The day was just as I title it...practically perfect in every way! Because the temps were rising, the roads were clear, but there was still a ton of snow and I have never seen Afton mountain in such beauty! Especially at the overlooks!

We only had to wait about 2 hours to see Santa which was awesome considering it was the 22nd of December. The children were all great! Mom, Jay and I took turns waiting in line so that they didn't have to wait in line. We were able to see Santa come down the chimney when he returned from his Candy Cane break which was awesome in itself! And there were no tears this year: all three children went right over to Santa when he called their names to come sit on his lap! The magic was all around us that is for sure! One might wonder why on earth we drove 2 1/2 hours and then waited 2 more hours to see Santa...all I can say is say is that we believe! and seeing the Legendary Santa is so worth it! There is no other magic like it!

To complete the day, we took the kids to Red Robin in Charlottesville, rode a Merry Go Round, and then visited Toys R Us. As I said, a perfect day!

Candy Cane Memory Boxes

We have had much craziness in the regards to the weather over the past week so, I am a little behind in posting my gift ideas to my blog. Because of the "blizzard" last weekend, many of our Christmas festivities were rescheduled and I didn't want to post my gifts before the recipients received them! :-)

When I think of Christmas sweets, I can't help but to think of Candy Canes! It has become a family tradition each year to make Candy Cane cookies (see recipe below), and this paper (Jingle Creative Basics) from Close To My Heart just shouts our "candy canes" to me. So, I combined the two for this festive gift.

Shopping List: Jingle Creative Basics, Memory Keeper Box, Flurry Dimensional Elements, Prisma Glitter, Bonding Memories Glue, Juniper, Tulip, and White Daisy Cardstock, Jingle Level 2 Paper Collection, Xyron or adhesive of choice and ribbon (Michael's) and Scalloped Edge Punch (Stampin' Up).

Candy Can inspired by fellow consultant, Bren Yule.

The side view.


Detailed instructions on how to create your own Memory Box will follow soon!

It is snowing...and snowing...and snowing even more! I cannot recall having this much snow since I was a little girl! It is beautiful and picturesque. We had to cancel all of our Christmas plans for this weekend as well as our trip to see the Legendary Santa in Richmond, and needless to say, the children were quite disappointed. I have been hoping that all of this snow would make up for it~and for a few minutes it certainly did! It is beautiful! And still falling hard.

Our first venture out in the snow proved to be rather memory-bound...Abby couldn't walk in the deep parts (which was basically everywhere except where Jay had shoveled) and kept calling out, "Mommy...I stuck". Gabey loved every second of it..definitely laughing all the way! Nicholas was a little intimidated, but overstepped the ditch and fell face forward into the snow. He too couldn't get up, and after that point, he was pretty much all done with the snow idea.

Gabey, Abby and I walked up to the front of our development to see the mountain only to find out we couldn't FIND the mountain. As Gabey said...it was "too foggy". We did try to take some pictures of our morning, but with it snowing so hard, it was hard to get many good ones. I thought since we are more or less "home bound" for awhile, I would post some pictures for loved ones to see.

Laughing all the way...


A side view of Abby's sweet hat.

The first snow ball of this snow!

Gabey looking for bear tracks.


Our house at about 9:30 this morning.

My little Christmas Elf...

Nicholas certainly has been an elf this Christmas! He loves to help me make cards, and treats and was very insistent that he make sweet bags for all of his friends at preschool for Christmas! I had made numerous Gingerbread cards earlier in November and Nicholas asked if he could make his own gingerbread cards for his friends. He picked out the little bags, and the original plans were to make gingerbread cookies ourselves...but mommy has been sick the last several days so we detoured to the store and bought gingerbread cookies. He was so proud...he even choose the candies too! What a team we made!

So proud of his "sweet" bags! And so he should be...he worked very hard! Nicholas is always my biggest cheerleader, so now I must be his and show off his beautiful work!

Creating that wow factor!

Dress up your Christmas sweets with some pizzaz!

I love to bake, and I love to give my baking away as gifts for Christmas, however I struggle with making the sweets look special. This year, I decided to purchase simple white candy/cookie tins and embellish them myself!

To create, begin by measuring the tins. Using the cutting system of your choice, cut a circle a little bit smaller than the top of the tin itself. Cut the circle out. Run the circle through the Xyron. Center, and adhere, to the top of the tin. Measure and cut strips for the sides of the tin. Again, run these through the Xyron and adhere to the tins. I prefer to use the Xyron over glue as I don't like the smell of the glue to mix with the sweets inside.

Don't forget to decorate the bottom of the tins and the insides if desired. Next, add details such as ribbons to the rims. Fill with sweet treats!

What's inside? The larger tin is filled with Candy Cane Cookies. The smaller tin is filled with Peppermint Bark Candies.

Don't miss out...tomorrow is the last day of the Heyday On-line Clearance Sale!

The on-line Clearance Event is coming to a close, but there are still some GREAT deals available! The best one I found is the Playful Alphabets! You can get the uppercase, lowercase, and number stamp sets all for $18.00 before shipping and tax! The sets would regularly retail at $55.85! And this font is incredibly multi-functional--great for cards and layouts!

Select Paper Packs are available for just $5 each, Sassy Strands for just $1, and accent tubes for $6 to mention a few other great deals!

Also, the Goody Boxes that are valued at $100 are just $30.00!! The goody box would be a perfect after-Christmas treat to reward yourself for all the work you do! And the best part, from what has been posted on the consultant Bulletin Boards, there are very few boxes that are alike! Great to buy and share with a scrappin' buddy too! Here is what was in mine:
Two Level 2 Paper Packs, a Tube of Accents, Jar of eyelets, package of Foam Squares, Package of 4 sheet My Stickease, TWO STAMP SETS, two packages of Sassy Strands, Pack of Assorted Textured Cardstock, and a set of 12x12 bases. Quite worth the money!
To check out what is still available, visit my website by clicking here.

Hurry though, the on-line Clearance event ends tomorrow, December 17th at midnight!
Certain restrictions apply--clearance items may not be purchased with regular items and there are quantity limits of 5 per customer. Super shipping savings...$5 shipping with a $100 order.

Introducing...Felicity!

A beautiful new collection from Close To My Heart that is here for a very short time! This kit is available beginning today through January 31, 2010 or while supplies last! I love it! It is definitely following the trends that we are seeing in the industry with the shaped paper and the colors are so universal! I see myself longing for several sets!

Celebrate papercrafting with the stunning Felicity Collection. The collection features die-cut paper, three gorgeous color schemes, and a D-sized stamp set that includes flowers, flourishes, argyle patterns, birds and an entire alphabet. Your paper crafting possibilities are endless.

How can you get yours? 1. Purchase $60 in stamp sets. 2. Purchase $125 in product. 3. Purchase the set outright for $34.95. 4. Host a $400 Gathering. 5. Join my team between January 1st and January 31st.

To see the full Felicity collection, click here.

Decorating our Missmastree...

After much anticipation and delay, we were finally able to take advantage of the icky weather this evening and decorate our "Missmastree" as Abby calls it! The anticipation has been more than they could stand...but it was worth the wait! All three of the kids were so excited!! They had to search and search for their very own ornaments...either ones that they had made or ones that were given to them. After all of the ornaments were on the tree, we decided that our tree is just a little too tall for Mommy's angel (which totally bums me out) but we decided to make a bow instead...now just to pick out the ribbon! We will save our angel for the top of our angel tree (which is tomorrow's task...as well as the rest of the Christmas decorations!).

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas..

My children have been fascinated with Christmas decorations...it seems like that is all they talk about! It didn't help my case when we decorated Grandmommy's tree on Thanksgiving Eve...and now they keep after me to decorate our tree! But since we are getting new carpet tomorrow I have stuck by my decision to not decorate until after the carpet is in! In the meantime, I decided to donate this tree to the Harrisonburg Junior Women's Club's Charity Auction for this evening and what fun we had decorating it! Nicholas said in a very "reminding" manner..."Mommy, these ssbooking things don't go on a tree" and I couldn't resist to tell him that if only scrapbooking supplies really did grow on tress!! " Don't I wish! But until the time when they do, adorning the tree with the embellishments works for me!

I am very excited to see how well my little tree did and to hear from the winner! I hope it makes someone smile!!

On-line clearance sale is rockin'

Looking at the numbers...before shipping and tax, we pay $0.38 a piece for cardstock. The on-line clearance sale prices numerous retired or retiring paper packs for just $5...the level 2 packs come with 10 pieces of cardstock which would be $3.80 then you add 6 designs of B&T paper with two pieces of each...the savings are wowers!!

If you look through the clearance section, you will find a great variety...and one of my very favorite paper packs...Key To My Heart! This was the National Papercrafting Promotion last year...and I could not get enough of this paper. I have savored each and every piece and intricately planned how to cut it so there is little scrap. BUT NOW...the pack is available on the on-line clearance event! For just $5!! Can you guess what item I ordered first???? That's right, this beautiful paper collection.

Because many haven't seen this collection before, I thought I would post a layout that I did with it for you to see!

To order this beautiful pack featuring Sorbet, Creme Brulee, Colonial White and touches of Juniper click here. Just $5 plus shipping and tax.

Holiday Heyday!

This just in...Close to My Heart never ceases to amaze me! Just as we are coming off of an amazing stamp-a-ganza promotion, they have done it again and introduced an amazing clearance sale! Perfect for filling your own stocking or your loved ones!

The Heydown begins tomorrow (Tuesday, December 2nd at 9:00am. mt) and can only be ordered directly on MYCTMH website. Address: www.tonyasheridan.myctmh.com. Click here to see the Clearance items expected to be in the Heyday! Quantities are while supplies last, and there are quantity limits to allow maximum shopping and availability for all customers!

Flyer.
Expected availability list.