december daily, day 25

 

Confused?

Yes, I know, it’s almost November 2011. And my December Daily technically ended December 25th. OF LAST YEAR.

But I finally finished it!

Once Christmas was over, I was DONE with this album (which is why it’s important to stay on top of things!). So I kept putting it off. (Needless to say, it hasn’t been printed yet either.)

Now that I’m done, I need to decide where/how I’m going to print it. My original plan was to print each page as an 8”x8”, and then slip each page into an 8”x8” album I got last November. And then I realized that it was going to cost me about $80 to print 50 pages like that. Ouch.

So then I thought I could just print up a photo book at Costco or Shutterfly or somewhere. Except that was going to cost me about $80 (granted, then I wouldn’t need an album. But I already own an album). Then, I found a deal on Snapfish a few weeks ago: 50% off! Score! But I had to upload & order by the 19th…the same day I had two major IEP meetings at work…meaning there was no way I could do it (since I still hadn’t finished day 25).

Well now I’m done…hopefully I’ll find a great deal on printing before December rolls around!

an interview with brandon

 

Originally I thought I was going to create an “everyday you” layout for my kids every six months. I thought it would be fun to chronicle their changes & likes & everyday-ness. Then I saw this cool interview format on Cathy Zielske’s blog & thought, I think I’m going to do that too!

This was by far one of the easiest layouts I’ve completed! I downloaded the template at Designer Digitals (where it looks like there are having a sale still…not sure how much longer though). I asked Brandon all the questions (& Olivia too, but I haven’t done her layout yet), then typed them into the psd document. I did have to head over to the Font Squirrel to download the fonts (since I didn’t have them, but they were free).

I printed the photos on photo paper and the rest on white cardstock, then I put them together & adhered them to a sheet of black cardstock. Done. And a lot of fun to look back on.

december daily, day 21

Almost done! I just have day 25 (Christmas), a title page (that Ali Edwards pretty much already made for me), and some sort of back page. And then I’m DONE! My goal was to be done by New Year’s, and now I know, I really need to have a goal to finish by Dec 26. Because by then *I’m* done!

december daily, day 20

Our Elf on the Shelf.

december daily, day 24

I really enjoyed making this page! I got a good (decent) shot of my three kids at church, so I used that for my main photo on the left. The overlay in the original red didn’t show, so I changed it to white & added a drop shadow. On the right had page I used another photo of my kids with some elves from our church’s Jingle Jam and one of a nativity in the lobby.

I didn't want to add pictures from us opening gifts on this layout, since my day 25 will focus on that. So I used a photo I took of a wreath & decreased the opacity to 58% (making sure the background layer/mask was white first). Then I added a bible verse from Ali Edwards’ Christmas Bible Verses brush set on top. I didn’t have another “background” photo, so I went onto our church’s website & found a great photo of someone holding a candle. Yippee! Plunked another verse on top & I’m done with day 24!

december daily, day 22

merry christmas!

supplies used:
Basic Grey Ribbon Candy paper
Ali Edwards 2010 Alpha Tabs; Anna Aspnes StraightLine Stitch Red # 01;
Katie Pertiet Word Strip Labels # 02
Katie Pertiet Krafty Cut-Ups: Holiday
Ali Edwards Holiday Word Art

december daily, day 23

Just to prove I’m not totally behind…

Our 2010 Christmas ornaments.

We mostly have “funky” glass ornaments, so these fit in perfectly!

As for the rest of my pages…I know I’ll be up late tonight helping Santa, so I probably won’t get anything done. And we’re hosting Christmas dinner tomorrow, so…hopefully tomorrow night I’ll get caught up! My goal at this point is to be done & ready to print by the end of the year.

Merry Christmas!

december daily, days 16 & 17

 

Yes, I’ve been slacking a little…oh well! My goal is to get it done, so if that means I get a bit behind, that’s okay. As with most people, we’ve been super busy this last week. And now that I’ve gotten caught up on my sleep, I can get caught up on this :)

On the 16th we made some felt ornaments. They are still on a piece of paper in the office so I know who made which one. Need to get ribbon hotglued on so we can share them for Christmas!

I got to go to Olivia’s Christmas party at school thanks to some nice mom’s on my caseload & creative scheduling on my part!

I hope to share a few more tomorrow!

december daily, day 18

Took a (LONG!) drive down to San Martin to visit the hubs’ family. We all had a great day!

december daily, day 15

 

Day 15 already? Ten days to go, and I’m only two days behind!

Photos from Brandon’s kindergarten holiday party.

december daily, days 9 & 10

 

I’m getting closer & closer to being caught up!

These photos were taken in a VERY long line to see Santa. As I was playing around with them in Photoshop, I decided that the photo on the right is going to be our “kids in front of the Christmas tree” photo this year. They’re matching, all looking at the camera, AND smiling! The trifecta of perfect holiday photos, so why on Earth am I going to try for another. It ain’t gonna happen. And I’m perfectly okay with the photo being in front of a tree at the mall :)

Good friends for Margarita Friday!

december daily, days 13 & 14

getting caught up….

Monday December 13: last day at MOPS & holiday gift wrapping party with girlfriends from MOPS

Tuesday December 14: Christmas card photo shoot. Not from today, but I wanted to include these pics, and I knew I didn’t have anything else to really include for today.

december daily, day 12

we went to the Victorian Christmas street fair in Nevada City today. We couldn’t have asked for better weather!

And on a side note…we’re almost halfway there! I can’t believe I’ve been keeping up (I know…I still need to do days 9 & 10!). But still. Tomorrow I will be wrapping presents late with friends, so I’ll be another day behind. But I’m thinking I can catch up on Tues night when nothing’s on TV :)

december daily, day 11

Olivia’s dance recital was last night, and I was able to get a few pictures. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get any pics of her class dancing; it was too dark & my shutter speed was WAY too low (even at 1600 ISO) for dancers. Oh well. I got a few pictures from the show & some of her class ahead of time!

december daily, day 8

december daily: day 6 (completed)

I finally got some photos of our completed gingerbread houses on Thursday. We’ve been (wait, *I* have been) super busy since then. So today, Saturday, is the first chance I’ve had to finish this layout.

december daily, day 7

 

Well, I didn’t get a finished picture of the gingerbread houses yet. I worked today, so no time in the morning to take pics and by the time I was home it was dark. I’m home on Thursday, so hopefully I can take some then!

Today I wanted to write a bit more. And since I worked I had to rely on pics taken this evening! Fortunately we do our Advent calendars either right before or right after dinner (unless we have a project, then it’s earlier). Tonight we got to go out for ice cream.

And if you’ve been reading my blog & paying attention…because of course this is the most exciting blog ever, right?

…you might notice that “eating ice cream” was not listed as one of our Advent activities. Well…last year when I made my calendar I knew that Brandon would be in kindergarten this year, Olivia next year, etc. And that each number isn’t always going to fall on the same day. However, I wasn’t anticipating Abbie falling asleep in the car on the way to pick up Brandon, napping until 4:30, only to be ready to go back to bed (with the other two) by 7pm. I also was only working two days a week last year, and David was working from home on one of those days. Needless to say, we had to change some of our activities!

And that’s okay…because my kids can’t read yet anyways

december daily, day 6

(Disclaimer: This page is incomplete. I really want to get some pictures of the gingerbread houses now that they’ve been put together, but I’m not going to get decent pictures at midnight, so I’m taking those tomorrow…hopefully! I work on Tuesdays so we’ll see what happens! Once I get the last two photos added I’ll add my words strips, etc., and then I’ll repost this layout.)

Journaling: How to decorate a gingerbread house, Chain style:  Sort all the candy in the muffin tins. Eat a few candies. Slather frosting all over the house pieces. Lick the frosting off your fingers. Put some candy on the house. And some more in your mouth. Use up the candy before you finish decorating. Have mommy see if there’s any Halloween candy left that will work in a pinch. Add that to the house. Lick some more frosting. Finish up & have mommy put it together when it’s dry.

FYI: Maybe you all know this, but I didn’t until the other day when I was purchasing the gingerbread kits at Michaels. Although the Michael’s 40% off coupon won’t work on sale items, a Joann’s coupon will work! Next year I’m buying the kits one week at a time with Joann’s coupons!

december daily, day 5

Tonight we went to my parents’ house for dinner, a Sunday tradition. I had taken a few photos throughout the day (and I included those too), but my favorite BY FAR was the one I used on the right: Abbie playing with the advent house ornaments & my mom’s train. My sister & I used to do that when we were little (only we got in trouble for it!).

Sometimes I wonder if taking so many pictures gets in the way of life. But then, there are times like today that I am thankful I’m chasing my kids around with a camera. It makes me so much more aware of what they are doing, and allows me to reflect & be in the moment. I can put the camera down when I need to get in the game, but I can’t go back & take pictures I didn’t get the first time.