Exhausted!

I am such a pansy, LOL! Been trying to spend more time with the kids while they are home through the holidays, and it has been wonderful! But it also means that I am behind a little on my schedule for getting projects done and meeting deadlines. A few late nights are in my very near future, and I am already exhausted! I shared a really fun Valentine's tutorial over at the CLASS room today. Ellen has a really FAB 12 days of Christmas going on, there are loads of great tutorials and projects, and if you leave a comment on the blog posts you will be entered to win some amazing goodies that she is giving away every day! (makes me wish I could play along for sure!)
This time of year also has me thinking about how I can improve myself and the choices I make, and after some serious reflection (mostly in the mirror...) I have realized that I am not taking very good care of my health and body so that is going to be a big priority for me this year. I think it will help me feel better and also improve my self esteem as well. After my knee surgery five years ago it really hurts to do most of the types of exercise that I enjoy. This has created what I refer to as {bracket creep}
a little over 5 pounds a year is what I have gained and it has been really hard to notice until a few months ago when my clothes really started showing the lumps. Hard to face, but time to do something about it. If you have any words of advice I would love to hear them, but my plan is pretty simple, eat less and exercise more.
It is time to get back to the crafty stuff I have waiting for me, my melting pot will be very busy for the next few days!
B-

Did You Have a Merry Little Christmas?

I sure hope so! We did. It was very low key and simple. Our finances are very tight (as they are for most!) and so there was not a large pile of gifts waiting under the tree like there had been in times past. But it was a beautiful day where we had waffles together for breakfast, opened the gifts at noon, had 45 minutes on the phone with Tyler in Brazil and went the the movies together. Easily one of our best family days together since Tyler went on his mission. Tyler is amazing, and we loved hearing what he is up to, what things are like there and how much he has learned in such a short time. Doing a little mom math, I figured out that he is over 35% done with his service and soon we will get to start counting the days the other direction.
Today everyone has slept in and when they get up they will enjoy some chocolate chip pancakes, time with the dogs and then maybe a little shopping at the sales to spend some Grandma money.

Best wishes for a peaceful weekend for you and yours.
B-

Enjoying the Christmas Season

It is so nice to be slowing down a little and enjoying time with my family during this wonderful holiday season. It has been good to get a little crocheting done (3 hats and a blanket for Chloe's boyfriend) and some homemade goodies to share with friends and neighbors. It has been so fun to spend time with the kids doing that. They are so happy to have some down time from school, especially Laurel and Chloe.
Wanted to share a layout I made recently, it is Pink Paislee's Holiday line with a Zva Creative crystal frame.
Hope everything is well for all of you and that you are taking some time to relax and enjoy as well!

B-

Hero Arts Preview Party for 2010 catalog!

Hop on over to the CLASS room to play along, Ellen has planned a fantastic scavenger hunt that is fun and definitely worth the effort! And don't forget her Christmas sale, the discount on holiday products keeps getting better as the sale goes on!

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Christmas Centerpiece

It is the most wonderful time of the year, and that makes every second precious! So I have shared over in the CLASS room a fun tutorial on how to make a really easy and cute centerpiece that doubles as a mini album.

There is going to be a really great preview party for the new Hero Arts stamps at Ellen Hutson's shop, so be sure to head over and check out what will be going on.

That is about all I have time for at the moment, sorry to be so short!

B-

Snow Day!

The snow has been falling all day, and it is so beautiful! I just love snow days! I actually had a nap this afternoon and sipped on a few cups of hot peppermint tea, I needed a slow, quiet and relaxing day. The 12 tags of Christmas with a Feminine twist is done, and while it was exhausting, I enjoyed doing it so much! It gave me a new found respect for Tim and his ability to perform so consistently, and I also learned a ton myself as I pushed my knowledge to new levels. You should see me taking a picture with my left hand and applying stickles with the right, quite the balancing act. I love the project that I created, and am so grateful to everyone who stopped by the CLASSroom to see what was going on!

I also got my January Creating Keepsakes, it was an issue that had two of my projects in it. Made me so happy to see my layout of Tyler in the sketch section! The other layout is of Chloe and in the article called "Those Quotable Kids". I am so in love with my hobby of paper crafting it is crazy! Whether I am making a card, scrapbook page or other playful project, I am in hog heaven if it involves making a mess in my studio! Such a lucky girl!

We did get our tree up this weekend and the girls did a great job of decorating it, it is so nice having kids that are great at helping and taking up where we need assistance.

This week marks Tyler being in Brazil for 8 months! The time is now seeming to fly, probably the time of year, but he is 33% done with his mission! We sent him a box for Christmas, and hope that it gets there in time for him to enjoy it for the actual holiday.

Well, that is all I got in my head for now...
;o)

B-

I have some new tags to share, they have been so fun to make! Head on over to the CLASS room at Ellen's if you are interested in seeing the tutorials.

And thanks for all of the wonderful comments on my little Zva Holly Days house tag!
It was such a fantastic blog hop, the other projects were so inspiring!!

The Zva winners have been chosen and their name will be announced sometime today on the following blogs:

Lynn Mercurio
Hilde Janbroers
Lynn Ghahary
Teri Anderson
Anabelle O'Malley

We had a ball and we hope that you did as well. Thank you SO MUCH for visiting my blog. Please keep an eye out for another Zva Creative Blog Hop in the future.

Hope you are enjoying your holiday season!
B-

Our First Zva Creative Blog Hop!

I am excited to be a part of the Zva Creative DT! We are joining together today to share a Christmas or Holiday Tag that we each created showcasing the beautiful products that Zva has to offer. I am hoping that you will take some time to join us in a little bit of fun!

The Blog Hop begins at Kim Hughes' blog. She is linking to one of the designers and that designer is linking to the next and so on. There are 12 design team members, so be prepared to be inspired along the way. Hidden on 5 of the blogs is a Zva Creative prize package! Those blogs will be randomly chosen after the hop is over, so it's important to leave a comment on as many blogs as you can. Our team is so wonderfully diverse, so we are hoping that you will discover a talent that you have not been aware of.

This Blog Hop runs through midnight on Tuesday, December 8th and the 5 winners will be announced on Wednesday, December 9th. We will do our best to notify each winner, but it's best if you can pop in to all of the blogs once again on Wednesday...plus, you never know what kind of inspirational creation that you may find there. All you need to do is leave a comment on this Zva Blog Hop post...you do not need to leave a comment on each and every designer's blog post to qualify. The more times you leave a comment along the blog hop path though, the more chances you will have to be one of the lucky winners.

I had so much fun creating this little "Holly Day" house, it was quick and so easy! If you are interested in creating something similar, the products that you will need are:

CRP-01CB-102 (The crystal letters)
CRC-02CB-101 (The blue and green crystal strands)
PE-02CB-102 (The pink pearls)
AD01CB101 (The adhesive dimension dots)
The papers are Eskimo Kisses from Basic Grey.

So if you are ready for a little more holiday inspiration,

please hop on over to see what the ever so talented Lynn Ghahary has created.

Thank you SO MUCH for playing. We appreciate your support so very much.

B-

Christmas Tag #4

It is tag #4, but it is only my second tag, it is very fun to be sharing this adventure with Lisa, she has made some beautiful and very inspiring tags!

Thanks to those of you who left comments for Chloe, so sweet and very appreciated!
The winner of my first tag is Elaine Allen! Congrats Elaine, please email me your shipping information so I can get that in the mail to you!

Decorations are going up here in the house today, the kids are having fun putting things out. Do you go around adjusting, or leave things the way they were put out? I am not terribly fussy, but sometimes they just need "fixed" a little. I love to make a lot of what we decorate with, but this year was so hectic that there really isn't much that is fresh going into the mix, feels kind of weird. It isn't like we needed anything, so it isn't a big deal, but still odd that I haven't been working on stuff like that. Is there anything that you have changed or done differently this year? Just wondering if I am alone in that or if others are feeling crunched for time as well.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!
B-

Christmas Tags

This is such a fun time of year! Making and giving is one of my favorite things to do during this season, what is yours?
Speaking of making, have you hopped over to The CLASS room to see what Ellen's team is up to? You will love it all! And being completed inspired by Tim Holtz's 12 tags of Christmas, Lisa Strahl and I are creating 12 tags that bring a feminine twist to the holiday tag thing. This tag is from today, there are complete instructions on how I put it together over at The CLASS room.

Today is Chloe's 17th birthday!!! We are so excited for her! She is a fantastic kid, we are so blessed that we have her in our lives! We are taking her to In-n-Out for dinner and I will be making her a cake (which is what I will be doing when I am done here)
And since this season is about making and giving, I am going to give this tag away. All you have to do is leave a comment wishing Chloe a happy birthday by Thursday at midnight, and I will pick someone randomly to send it to!

Have a wonderful day!
B-