Gathering Supplies for my "Journal Your Christmas Album"

Well, a big part of creating is gathering and organization. I have discoverd

that old muffin tins and jello molds help me organize and

are so cute!

My bin full of products that I will be using for my JYC album

My protfolio ablum from Pink Paislee that I will be using --

now the fun begins....decorating the front!!!!

My inside pages are all different sizes, the album comes with divided pockets, 8.5 x 11 pages, 5x7 pages and pocked with folds....I also will be adding page flaps and additional pages...

probably a few paper, glassine and striped bags from here.
There are small bags to use for little things I want to save and larger sized ones

that I could actually use for a page or to hold receipts from shopping, grocery lists,

gift cards and such (since I love to keep all of that, it is so fun to look back

and see those things!)

Christmas has begun

Christmas has begun at our house.....I've started gathering items to create with....

above are the tags that I created for my Journal your Christmas album.

I enjoyed creating these and though I tried to stick with the same idea, using the same punches

and papers, each tag is a little different.

(I used the girls' paperie tinsel & twig paper, did some machine stitching...glimmer mist,

inking and a lot of odds and ends.)

I'm also collecting items for homemade ornaments. (it is tradition

around here for the kids to get a new ornament each year....but this year we

are creating them ourselves) Other things I've been busy with for Christmas....

our advent calendar....gathering supplies for more crafts, albums and we have the

neighbors handmade gifts finished just gotta get tags made up. Oh, and we can't forget homemade Christmas cards and Sunday School Christmas program.

I must say that this year we are having more of a homemade

holiday than a store bought holiday.

So looking forward to the homemade part.

Sweet 16 -- Shalene!

Shalene is turning 16 at the end of this month! WOW, its hard to

believe. She wanted to do a bonfire so, since I DO NOT enjoy

being cold we had the party at the beginning of the month.

Steve kept the fire going all evening for us...keeping the soup

and spiced cider hot for us.

We had pumpkin carving....which they all seemed to enjoy....
many different creations. Above is one that Alyssa
created.

Here we have our smore's bar....apple cider, vanilla bean, mexican hot choc., butter

pecan, raspberry, gingerbread and more flavored homemade marshmellows.

3 types of grahams and tons of different chocolate along with

toasted coconut, toasted almonds and carmel for the toppings!!!

Though it was a chilling evening, the fire and hot spiced cider kept us warm...

with lots of good fun, friends and fun.....we celebrated the birthday of a wonderful

young lady whom I'm very proud of.