Journal Your Christmas

It's that time again...it's January, and time to post my December Daily album. Now honestly there are a few little touches I need to add but for all intent and purposes it is complete. I am still waiting on a photo of Jeremy from his birthday....I wasn't there for that and this weekend is HB Costco's Holiday party so I am going to have a few photos from there that I am going to include as well but rather than keep you in suspense until I finsh I decided I would post the album now.

This year I learned that each and every December Daily album I have done (and I have done 5 of them now) seems to take on a life of it's own. When I start creating I am not quite sure how it will all turn out in the end. I started with Teresa Collins Countdown to Christmas kit this year and added some of her Christmas Cottage line as well older papers from my stash and went from there. So I highly recommend you read this post when you have some time. Sit back with something warm to drink, relax, because, this year my album is huge.  =D

Some years I stop with December 25th other years I have gone on til the end of the year and this year I went clear through the 12 days of Christmas and finished up on January 6th. My projects just seem to get bigger and bigger. This years album required 2 inch binder rings and is over 60 pages!  (GASP) I used many of Shimelle Laine's journaling prompts for my entries as well as my own ideas for stories that I wanted to tell. It truly has become a labor of love. With me working in retail, (aka Costco) it is easy to loose sight of what is really important during the holiday season. As crazy as this sounds, creating this journal at this insanely busy time of year helps me stay focused on what is important and what I do want to remember about the season. Thank you Shimelle for all your hard work on JYC....your prompts are amazing and they truly helped me to do just that, Journal MY Christmas.

It really is bigger than it looks here.

Front Cover

Manifesto

some fun decorative pieces

I had loads of fun with my new Cricut cartridge, called December 25th by Teresa Collins

My fun and crazy friends from Fountain Valley Costco

Friends always make Christmas special

I love these guys!

I was going for the looking through a window at the nativity

on this one.

My year in review page

My Top 12 favorite Layouts for 2012

 

Hi everyone....I know I have been a horrible blogger lately with the holidays and all...but decided I would post my Top 12 favorite layouts for 2012. So here they are in no particular order. Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

I really got all creative with the paint and ink on this one

See you can do a boy page with pink, especially if said boy is
holding a sweet new baby girl. ;)

Cliff is such a great cook!

My friends and co-workers from Fountain Valley Costco
Love these guys

Nola is such a goof I swear he could live on Bowl Noodles

Love this photo that Jeremy captured of Jason at Disneyland

One of my favorite layouts from Memorable Seasons Last
Scrapper Standing Contest

Love my silly little boy...even if these photos are 18 years old! =)

Another Contest Layout from Memorable Seasons Last
Scrapper Standing

My last contest layout....I was ousted with this one...but no matter
I love that we are going to be grandparents! =)

Another old photo of the boys...love modern technology.

My Sweet Daughter-in-law and our soon-to-be grandson. =)


 

A Little Christmas Cozy

I am once again participating in Shimelle Laine's Journal Your Christmas online class. I love that she gives us permission to SLOW down this time of year and try to embrace the true meaning of Christmas. It's often hard for me to do that because I work in the retail business....retail is all about selling, making money for the company....and face it...this time of year is a BIG money maker for the retail industry. Sometimes I get caught up in the buy buy buy mentality and forget that this holiday is about the Birth of our Savior. This class really helps me to stay focused on the important things. It helps me think outside the box sometimes too and that is good for me...I tend to be an in the box thinker most of the time.

So today's prompt was about keeping calm and remembering what makes this season so magical. This was perfect for me for today as I had the day off and had a fun outing for lunch planned with my dear friend Row Anderson. So rather than write it twice here is what I wrote in my journal for today.

Today's prompt is about slowing down a bit...it was a perfect theme for today because I had planned to go to lunch with my good friend Row Anderson. So I already had a low key relaxing day off planned. We had a great time visiting and having lunch. We had already decided to have a peppermint hot chocolate from Starbucks so after lunch we headed to Starbucks and while having our hot chocolate she bought me this cute ceramic Starbucks cup Christmas ornament.  So even though I have tons of things I could and probably should be doing...it was great to spend some time relaxing and being reminded to slow down during this otherwise hectic time of year.

Perhaps now, every year when I hang that cute little Starbucks cup on my tree I will remember to slow down and enjoy the season. Thanks Row!

TIME OUT...

Holly and Me with our "Time Out" Tote Bags

I had a wonderful whirlwind weekend. The three of us took off for the weekend and went to Arizona to see Jeremy and Holly. It was so fun to see them and their new home. (yes they have purchased their first home in Mesa) Cliff had also bought tickets for Holly and I to go to Time Out for Women in Phoenix. What a wonderful spiritual feast it was. (you can find out more about it if you go to tofw.com) I am grateful I was able to attend. Of course while we were there, Bazzill just happened to be having a warehouse sale (oh darn) so I got to go. YAY ME! I got 125 sheets of cardstock for $20.00...I was thrilled. I also got some bling and some chipboard...some buttons.....etc. etc....you get the idea...=)  While I was there I had to take a picture of their really cute sign in the hallway.

 Of course all too soon the weekend was over and we had to drive home but here are a few of my favorite photos from the weekend.

I am always walking behind these guys...it made me happy to
see them together tho. =)

Holly and Jeremy at dinner at Oregano's

Kimberly Wilson, one of Holly's good friends
is now a terrific friend of ours too.

A Good Sunday

It's been a wonderful, relaxing Sunday. I love General Conference weekend. It's always a bit more laid back and such a spiritual uplift. As I listed to Conference I created this wonderful layout and I just had to take a minute and post it. It was so fun to do and I had a wonderful story to tell. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would get a photograph of the kitchen in the house that I grew up in...but when I was back in San Jose for my High School Reunion that is just exactly what I did. (See the previous post if you want to know more about my trip)  The home has been so well taken care of and it looks simply beautiful. It made my heart happy to see that. I wanted to document some of the things I could remember about growing up in that kitchen. So when I saw Lilith's facebook challenge I grabbed some of my favorite Teresa Collins Vintage Finds paper and went to work. I loved all the layers in Lilith's design, and Teresa's papers....well I am totally hooked on her amazingly beautiful designs....so, it was a win-win for me. I had such a great time creating in my studio this afternoon. It really has been a good Sunday!