Happy New Year ... and update

It's a new year and new decade! Wow! Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday.

We spent a few days in Albuquerque and then drove to Sedona, AZ, with one daughter's family. The rest of the family joined us there for Christmas week. It was a chaotic, fun time - and exhausting with four kids (our youngest couldn't get away), three spouses and four young grand boys! I love that my adult children still enjoy each other and want to get together as often as possible. And the boys all get along really well. No matter how long they are apart, when they get together they just pick up as though they were never separated.

We returned home the day after Christmas to rewind and relax.  Two days later my computer went black and refused to work. When we took it to Apple for repair they told us it was obsolete (9 1/2 years old!) and I needed a new one. Once we purchased that, we had to try to reload all the data. We thought it had been backed up but all this time, the hard drive backup wasn't working! Long story short, Apple had to do a data transfer and I just got it back today. Amazing how we miss this technology when we don't have it! I have my iPad and phone, but some things are just better with the computer.

So, I'm "back in business!" I have lots of photos to edit and will post again soon.

December Daily - Days 12 - 18

Days 12 and 13 

The little red truck background on Day 12 is tissue paper. I added a buffalo plaid pocket with washi tape that was on an envelope I received. The card inside the pocket is one that I made last year at a retreat from another gal's sample. I love it so much I know I will never send it and it was perfect for the journaling on this page.

On Day 12 I used scrapbook paper on the background and added a paper gift bag I bought this year. Inside is a large tag I made from scraps for journaling.

Days 14 and 15

Day 14 is when I was at a friend's house for the weekend and she had an open house on Saturday. At the upper left I glued on her invitation, leaving the right side open for a pocket and a journaled tag. At the bottom right corner is one of the little gift card holders we made at her party. Inside I stuck two tags - one for journaling and one for a tiny photo of the second gift for the 12 Days of Christmas swap I'm in. I also added a photo of some of us crafting that day.

 

Day 15 has a drop down gift card holder that was a make 'n take at the Little Blue House several years ago when I was teaching there. Inside I added some of the packaging from my third day's gift along with its tag and a little photo.

Days 16 and 17

I added a ribbon vertically to Day 16's page and used it as a "belly band" to hold a beautiful handmade card I received. I taped the side and bottom of the card to make a pocket and added a tag on which I placed a photo of the fourth day's gift of the swap.

The background of Day 17 is kraft wrapping paper with candy canes. I thought that was appropriate for that day as it's when my friend and I made candy cane cookies together. I journaled on the back of the candy cane card front and also used a recipe card to journal more about our family's tradition of these cookies.

Day 18

Day 18 has a plaid scrapbook paper background with a slanted pocket at the bottom. I decoupaged part of a poinsettia napkin on the pocket and also added a little postmark that was from the wrapping of my fifth day's swap gift. Inside the pocket I placed another handmade card I received along with the tag from the swap gift (I placed a photo of the gift on the back).

We are leaving tomorrow for a week with our family in Sedona, Arizona. All but one daughter will be with us for Christmas week. I will try to pre-schedule a few posts for when I'm gone.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Shrink Plastic Ornament

My five-year old grandson, Carl, loves to draw. He has a little tablet he carries everywhere. When they were here last weekend, he drew several snowmen for me. As I was adding it to the gallery on our fridge, I had a wonderful idea. I would make it into a keepsake ornament so he could remember his early drawings.

I took some shrink plastic (remember that?) and traced his drawing with a few Sharpie permanent pens. I even traced his "signature" and added the year. I die cut it into a large scalloped oval and punched a hole at the top. I used my heat gun to shrink it and added a piece of baker's twine for hanging.

I think it came out darling and I sent it to him to put it on his tree. Can't wait to find out his reaction!

I need to do this for all the boys and every year!

Another retreat project - Christmas mini album

This is a Christmas mini-album created from long, black "policy" envelopes and bound with a coil binding.

Front cover

Pages 2 & 3 with a pocket made by cutting off one of the envelopes

Pages 4 & 5 - page 5 is the other portion of the cut envelope above

Pages 6 & 7

Pages 8 & 9 - page 8 is a regular black tag

Pages 10 & 11 - page 11 is a larger envelope with a flap

Pages 12 & 13 - Page 13 is a small, hand-cut kraft tag

Pages 14 & 15 - page 15 has a pocket at the bottom
created by a piece of patterned paper

Pages 16 & 17

Last 2 pages - page 19 is the inside back cover

I have set this to post while I am away. We are currently in Kansas City to celebrate my 

mother-in-law's 90th birthday! Kelly and her two boys are joining us and great-grandmother 

will get to meet 2-1/2-year-old Mitchell for the first time.

We will return just in time for Halloween. We'll be going down to Austin to trick-or-treat with the grand boys!

Recap of Christmas Vacation

I returned from our fabulous family Christmas trip to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, Tuesday night.  We had a wonderful time in this lovely, quaint, artsy city but it was also good to be home!

The entire family was supposed to join us, but various circumstances prevented three of our daughters and two of our grandsons from coming. We did enjoy having our son, Will, from San Francisco (about to move to Hong Kong!) and our daughter, Dana, son-in-law and two grandsons from Albuquerque with us for the week.

The weather was perfect - cool at night and in the early mornings and mid-70's during the day. We rented a beautiful home with lovely terraces, an open-air dining room and gorgeous views.  The best part was it came with a cook, housekeeper and gardener. I was in heaven - what a let-down to come home to reality! Here are some photos I took of our home-away-from-home.

Front door - right on street!

Open dining room

View from courtyard up to first terrace

View from first terrace up two flights of stairs to rooftop terrace

Looking down to middle terrace/view of city beyond

View from rooftop terrace of town and churches

The city of San Miguel is hilly with narrow cobblestone streets and almost impossible to drive through. We walked everywhere or took taxis up the hills! It is steeped in history and so picturesque. I especially loved walking along and peeking into all the doorways that opened into large courtyards and plazas. It was fun to be there during the holiday and experience some of their Christmas customs. The church bells rang often during each day and more so on Christmas day. As is the Mexican custom, fireworks were set off for several days and on Christmas Eve well into the early morning hours.

La Parroquia - the iconic "parish church" on the main plaza

Nativity set up in center of plaza with live animals

One of the streets outside our house going down to the center of town

Typical streets - love the vines and bougainvillea

Love the colors of the buildings and, if you look closely, you can see the traditional 

cut-paper banners (Papel Picado) spanning the street

Portico on one side of plaza - note the piñatas that were hung all over town

Another side of the plaza, near the church

This was a pretty outdoor eating area. I loved the sign they had out which read "No texting; pretend this is 1995."

 Pretty fountain and courtyard

Of course, I must also post photos of my little ones. This was on Christmas morning opening stockings. They were amazed that Santa managed to find them in Mexico!

Drew-age 4; Grant-age almost 2

Now I must rest and catch up on my December Daily and Documented Life unPlanner (only one more week!)

Annual "12 Days of Christmas" Swap

I am in an online art group that does an annual "12 Days of Christmas" swap. 12 participants are in each group and you make twelve little gifts (alike or very similar) and send one out for each participant. You are assigned a number and that is the day that your gift is opened by everyone.

I corraled all my little gifts in a basket waiting for the first day to start opening (Dec. 13). Doesn't it look festive?!

These are my first three days' gifts. On the left is Day 1 - a cute pair of snowman earrings attached to a pretty tag. In the middle, Day 2 - a sweet tiny ornament with a wooden spool as a base.  And on the right, a children's-size denim pocket decorated for Christmas and filled with Jolly Ranchers.

This is such a fun activity and one I look forward to every year. If you've never done this, get some friends together and do your own 12 Days of Christmas project!

Christmas Shadowbox

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, filled with good food and fun times with people you love. We went to Austin to visit two of the grand boys and had our feast at our oldest daughter's house. Now I'm home for just a few days before leaving again for babysitting in Albuquerque next week!

This month I participated in a holiday shadow box swap with my online art group.  I created this shadow box with a wintery Santa scene.  The box is painted a dark blue and the background has a portion of a beautiful patterned paper with a church, houses and snowy trees which I fussy-cut. I made the snow with texture paste, sprinkling on mica while it was wet. The tree and light are purchased items (I added alcohol ink to the "glass" of the light to make it shine, but it's not visible in the photo). The Santa is a vintage Victorian "scrap," which I cut out, added Mod Podge for added strength and glued a piece of rigid plastic packaging to the back to get it to stand. I added a painted wood title piece and red bells for feet.  I covered the back with a coordinating paper from the same collection and added one of the journaling cards from the collection to sign my name.

Front

Back

Yesterday I received the shadow box that was made for me by Judy. I love it - it's a Tim Holtz divided configuration box filled with all sorts of Christmasy items. The entire box is covered with a vintage-colored snowflake washi tape and embellished with a printed twill ribbon, a little glass knob and ornate metal feet. Isn't it spectacular?

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday spending time with loved ones. We have had a very busy December and I have lots of catching up to do!

We returned Saturday from a week in Austin with Kelly, Josh, Carl and Mitchell. It was great to be with the littles - this is the first Christmas that Carl has really gotten into it. So much fun experiencing it through a three-year-old's eyes! His Elf-on-the-Shelf, Hermie, kept Santa updated on his good behavior and he received a very stuffed stocking and lots of good presents.

I received the remaining six gifts of my online group's "12 Days of Christmas Gifts." Each and every one was so unique and lovely.

Day 7
Denim cuff bracelet from Nancy

Day 8

corner bookmark, decorated clip, ribbon bookmark from Barb

Day 9

beaded icicle ornament from Judy

Day 10

Sewn cardinal ornament from Teresa

Day 11

Beaded drop earrings from Darlene

Day 12

Acrylic frame calendar from Laurie

I love all my gifts and it was so much fun opening one per day!