Happy New Year!

DREAM BIG!!! I have decided that this will be my motto for the new year. I hope all of your dreams come true in 2007!!!

Three More Days - Part 2

Blogger is giving me grief this morning and wouldn't let me type anything to go along with the pictures below, so I had to post them separately. Three more days until Christmas and here are three more pages to my Christmas Journal. The Perfect Gift page was a previous prompt that I skipped a while back. The other two are Lists and Photograph Your Home. I stayed up late to complete these pages. I think I must be a little nuts to be working on the journal when I have so many things to do to before Christmas. How is everybody else's preparations coming along?

Three More Days

Christmas Journal {Days 17-20}

I just completed four more pages of my Christmas Journal....Gratitude, The Christmas Table, Letters to Santa, Mail. They all have been in various stages of incompletion the past few days, but I finally was able to get them finished in between Christmas shopping and baking.

Counter Stool Update

Well, I struck out on my search for counter stools at Homegoods. Could only find one and I need two. Bought two other stools that look similar to these, but with cleaner, straighter lines than those pictured and a lot less expensive. We will give them a try and see how they look. If they don't work out, I found some like my original choice on this website at a reasonable price and with free shipping and no tax to boot!

The Hunt

I am been running around all over going to every TJ Maxx/Homegoods store within driving distance looking for a pair of counter stools for our cottage. I am obsessed with finding them, but so far I have only been able to find one in good condition. The stools are exactly like these from Pottery Barn, except instead of being $129, they are $49. I just can't bring myself to paying $129 for something that I know is out there for $49. Am I weird? Anyway, I really shouldn't be spending so much time on something so ridiculous when I have a million and one things to do before Christmas Eve, which by the way is only 5 days away. But then I think that is a common trait of a procrastinator isn't it? Anyway, no time to work on my Christmas Journal as I am flying out the door to go to one more Homegoods Store!!! Wish me luck! : )

Tree is Done!

After looking a bit sad and bare for almost two weeks, I finally found time to decorate the tree. Everyone in the family is happy. The tree is happy. And I am happy too....happy that I can finally cross this off my To Do list! Yipee!

Christmas Journal {Day 15}

Shimelle's prompt for today was "Visitors" and she advised us to keep it simple. Hmmm...not sure if I am capable of the simplistic style. And no, that is not my front door. It is from my collection of front door photographs I took a couple years ago.

Have lots to do today. I have to make a run to the mall to return some gifts that I bought and have since changed my mind about. Also have to go to Target to get an adjustment on something that I bought that is on sale now. I have to make a dessert for a party I am attending and also wrap 8 little gifts to give out there as well. And my goal is to have the Christmas tree totally decorated by this afternoon. The family is getting tired of looking at the three lonely ornaments that I stuck on there when we first put the tree and lights up. Correction...there are now FOUR ornaments as I bought a cute little one yesterday. But after today there will be too many ornaments to count....I promise!

To Die For...

FROZEN TIRAMISU

Made with Kahlúa, DiSaronno Amaretto, Tuaca (an Italian vanilla liqueur) and ice cream.

I had one of these at The Olive Garden yesterday. All I can say is YUM-O! I highly recommend trying one, just not at the Indianapolis location. It is to die for!!!

Christmas Journal {Days 11,12, 13, 14}

Trying not to get too far behind on my Christmas Journal. There is so much going on right now that keeping up sometimes means staying up until the wee hours of the morning to finish a page. But I've said it before and I'll say it again, I love doing this kind of thing. It clears my mind, it gives me some "me" time, it feels good to preserve these thoughts this way...it's all good!

Had some disappointing news about the cottage we are building the other day. We were supposed to close today, but got a call saying it will have to be rescheduled. We are a bit frustrated by the whole thing because we believe they have been slacking off lately and feel that is the reason for the delay. Unfortunately we aren't building a big, huge house nor have we been very demanding throughout the process, so I am thinking that is probably the reason they aren't finishing on time. I guess you live and learn with things like this. Oh well, I suppose it will be finished someday.

Christmas Journal {Days 8, 9 10}

I had some time to work on my Christmas Journal again as I feverishly try to get caught up. I am enjoying the time I spend on it. The only negative is that I much rather work on the journal than on other chores that are more pressing. It's that procrastinator thing going on again. It is so difficult to change old habits. Day #8's prompt was to journal about the Signs of Christmas and for me the first sign is when Starbucks brings out their Holiday drink line...Peppermint Mocha, Eggnog and Gingerbread Lattes, etc. Yummy! Holiday Traditions was Day #9, so I wrote about a Scandinavian tradition that we always serve for our first course at Christmas Eve dinner. Finally, on Day #10 we were to wrap our page as if it was a gift. I just so happened to be wrapping gifts to send to relatives in Dallas that day, so I chose to use the same wrapping paper on my page. This was the simplest page to create so far! To check out some of my favorite artists who are also making Christmas Journals, click here, and here and here!

How Christmassy Are You?

I found this on here and thought it would be fun to play along!

You know the drill. Don't be a scrooge!!!

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Egg nog
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? She wraps them
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? White
4. Do you hang mistletoe? No
5. When do you put your decorations up? Whenever I can find the time...no set date
6. Favorite Holiday memory as a child: Going downtown in Chicago, eating lunch at the Walnut Room in Marshall Field's by the big Christmas tree and looking at the Christmas windows afterwards.
7. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? Can't remember, but we were pretty old. Guess we didn't want to give up on the magic of it all.
8. Do you open gifts on Christmas Eve? Yes, with our extended family. We save our immdiate family gifts to open on Christmas Day.
9. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? One ornament at a time!
10. Snow! Love it or Dread it? Love new fallen snow....but hate driving in it.
11. Do you know how to ice skate? I used too, but haven't tried it lately
12. Do you remember your favorite gift? A Barbie Dream House from my Aunt and Uncle
13. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Being with family
14. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Christmas cookies
15. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Opening the package my Aunt sends from Texas
16. What tops your tree? A big snowflake
17. Which do you prefer - giving or receiving? Giving mostly, but the receiving is fun too.
18. What is your favorite Christmas Song? O Holy Night
19. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum? Yuck by themselves, but as an ingredient in a recipe - YUM-O

Playing Catch Up

You know, once I miss a day on these projects, I seem to get further and further behind. Not to worry though..we will just say I am progressing at my own pace so that I can enjoy the process. The prompt for Day #7 was Holiday Gifts. Since I have gifts bought but not actually wrapped yet, I thought I would just photograph them in their original shopping bags to illustrate the chaos in my art room as I mentioned in the previous post. Would you believe I still only have three ornaments on my Christmas tree...so sad! Looking ahead on the prompts for my Christmas Journal, I see Day #11 is the Christmas Tree, so I guess I'd better get crackin' and get those ornament boxes down. Why am I such a procrastinator???

Here's the Latest

Here is a picture of our cottage that I promised to post today. They are still working on installing the siding and porch on the front of the house, so it isn't very picturesque looking from that angle. This is the back view. The cottage is coming along, but there still is a lot of finishing work to do yet. I am finding it difficult to believe that we will be able to close on the 15th like the builder says. But then, I have never built a house and he has, so we shall see. We did buy a sofa for the livingroom today. It was on clearance and so we got a good deal on it. We still don't have a bed yet, but at least we have a place to sit down! I have been trying to buy all the little necessities that we will need for the cottage over the past several months. Things like bath towels, shower curtains, kitchen utensils, coffee maker, (can't live without my morning java), waste baskets, etc. My utility room is over-flowing right now with a huge pile of these things. In addition to that, I have been keeping all the Christmas presents I have been buying in my art room, so the house is beginning to look like a shopaholic likes here! And also, increasingly treacherous to maneuver around, Yikes!!!

Road Trip

Sneaking out this weekend to take a peek at how the cottage is coming along. I'll take some more pictures to share with you when I get back! Have a great weekend everyone!!!

More Christmas Journal Pages

Finally put the finishing touches on days five and six of my Christmas Journal. Day 5's prompt was Countdown To Christmas and Day 6's prompt was Memories. Making this book has been fun for me. I never would have dreamed I'd have time to be doing this kind of thing so close to the holidays. I guess we find time for the things we love to do. However, my house is sorely lacking attention right now. And I have almost no decorations up yet! Yikes!!! Oh well....I can't have everything, right? The tagging yesterday was fun. I was so thrilled (and honored) to find this post. And this one too. I have met such wonderful, caring and giving people since I started this blog. And the inspiration that exudes from everyone is unbelievable. You guys are so great!

Christmas Journal {Day 4}

Day four's prompt was to describe what your ideal Christmas would be like. Although every Christmas is wonderful just being able to spend time with the family, I do have a "fantasy" type of Christmas that can only be experienced in my dreams. I would love to have my daughter experience Christmas as I did as a child. I try my best to keep the traditions alive and do things similar to the way we celebrated when I was young. But nothing can replace my grandmother's cooking, my grandfather's sense of humor, and my mother playing the piano as we danced around the Christmas tree (a Danish tradition). To have us all together in one room to celebrate the birth of Christ and the spirit of giving would be my idea of a perfect Christmas.

Guess what?....I've been Tagged! My friend, Sharon tagged me the other day and said the sweetest thing about me on her blog. This challenge wasn't as easy as the usual one-word-answer kind of tagging. I actually had to really do some serious thinking about these. The deal is that you have to tell six wierd things about yourself. Me? Weird? Now certain people I know would say it would be hard to narrow the list down to a mere six. Yeah, right! So here goes...

1. I don't like talking on the phone. I prefer face to face communication.

2. I dance around the house to loud music when I clean. However, it can prove to be a dangerous activity since I broke my ankle once while doing this.

3. I love to people watch. My favorite thing about going to the mall is to sit at the Starbucks cafe inside the mall and watch the parade of shoppers.

4. I have an unhealthy obsession with paper products - notecards, pads of paper, greeting cards, patterned papers, wrapping papers - I can't seem to get enough of them.

5. I do not like to be barefoot. Sandals are fine, but no bare tootsies for me.

6. I think I am quiet and reserved. My friends beg to differ.

Claudine, Donna, Lisa, PJ, Dawn, Jill - TAG, you're it girls! : )

Making Ornaments

Just wanted to share some ornaments I am making as a part of Donna Downey's class at Big Picture Scrapbooking. I have been doing projects every week all year long with Miss Donna and she really has come up with some great things for us to do. I am making these to give as Christmas gifts. The first ornament pictures my mother, two aunts and grandparents back in the 1920's. I am giving this ornament to my aunt who turns 95 in February and is the oldest (and only one still living) of the three sisters. The second ornament is for my daughter who will always be our "princess." The last one is for my daughter's new beagle puppy since this will be his first Christmas. Well, that's a little peek at what I am up to....now I am off to make some more!

Christmas Journal

Thought I would give you a peek inside a Christmas Journal (from Shimelle's class) that I started on December 1st to record special holiday memories, past and present. I am using a naked chipboard journal cover and back set from Rebecca Sower's Bookworks line from EK Success. I covered the journal with Anna Griffin papers. The Happy Holidays bird nest piece on the title page is a Christmas card from Target that I cut down so it would show through the square opening in the journal cover. I wanted to use it because the card seemed to match the Anna Griffin paper so perfectly......and also because I have a "thing" about nests and birds. On the "snow" page, I accented the edges of the clear Heidi Swapp snowflakes with white embossing powder to give them a more "snowy" look.

Studio Friday {Favorite Color Combo}

My favorite color combination for the moment is browns and blues. The pictures above are from a "style file" that I keep, since I don't actually have any browns and blues in my studio. Isn't that weird? I am planning on using this combo in the cottage we are building, but for now I just have to enjoy it vicariously via magazine photos. Yesterday I discovered that Kleenex has even adopted this combination for their new oval box shape. Love it! See other Studio Friday favorite color combinations here.

Happy December First!

All the rain has now turned into snow here. Woke up this morning to this: Actually the snow began late last night. These photos were taken at 8:00 a.m. this morning and although it looks like a lot of snow right now, we are expected to get even more as the morning goes on. Up to 12 inches the forecasters tell us. Ah, the joys of living in the midwest! Actually I do not mind the snow at all (except for having to drive in it) as it looks pretty and clean and pure...for the moment anyway. Snow does have a habit of getting dirty and slushy and then it isn't so pretty anymore.

Yesterday I bought a Martha Stewart Christmas tree like this one, except that mine is only 7ft tall and cost $74.99. {So happy I didn't wait until today to shop!}. It is one of those new slim type pre-lit trees. We don't have a lot of room in our living room for a full size tree anymore. My DH came home and seemed a little disappointed that his job of putting the lights on the tree was eliminated. Go figure! We have never had a pre-lit tree before. I am wondering how long these lights last. Does anyone have any experience with these things? The box said the lights burn for 1500 hours. What do you do with the tree once the lights don't work anymore? Well, with all the snow, I guess it is a good day to trim the tree and decorate the house for the holidays!

Update: It is noon now and the snow is still piling up! The radio says it should be stopping soon. I am feeling brave and think I will venture out to see what the roads are like. I hate feeling cooped up!

Ready for the Count Down

Everybody's making these, so I thought I would give it a try too. I was inspired by Pam's Halloween calendar here and Teresa's Christmas calendar here. It was fun finding and making all the number magnets for it. I used papers from Cosmo Crickets Wonderland Collection because I love the muted greens, reds, golds and browns....goes better with my home decor than the traditional bright Christmas reds and greens. So does this mean I am back in the creative saddle again? I sure hope so! It's been raining here for three days and it is soooo depressing. Tomorrow snow is predicted, so I may be forced to stay inside and that means I can play in my studio....yipee!

Moody Blues

Can't figure out why I am feeling so unmotivated to do anything these days. Hormones?... Possibly. All my friends blame their mood swings on hormones, so why shouldn't I do the same? I did force myself to work on a morning collage page this morning, just so I would have something creative to show for the day. Of course the page focuses on these same feelings. The weather here is dreary...cloudy and rainy...so that doesn't help much. Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to find some wonderful inspiration and break-out of the blahs.

We have a kitchen!

Yesterday I wrote that we went to check on the progress of the cottage we are building so here is a peek at what it looks like so far. I hope my DH doesn't expect me to start cooking more now. I can't tell you how excited I am to have a window above my kitchen sink. Seems like a rather mundane thing to be happy about, but in all the places we have lived not one home had a kitchen sink that faced the outside of the house. Weird, huh? Unfortunately, this new kitchen makes my kitchen here at home look rather tired and sad now. Uh-oh!

Mass Production

I have been busy working on an assembly-line the past few days, putting the finishing touches on my holiday cards. I usually get together with a group of friends and we all bring our card-making supplies and work on our individual creations. But somehow this year, I came home from the gathering without starting one single card! I guess there was too much visiting and eating (yes, we bring treats to share) and not enough creating going on. But I did manage to get them all finished at home on my own time. Here is what they look like close-up.
I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. We ate for two days straight and I can honestly say I am sick of looking at food for a while...well, maybe for a day or two! The pumpkin dessert squares from this post turned out great, except I think next time I would bake them for a tiny bit longer than the recipe called for. I served them with a dollop of whipped cream and they were dee-lish!

Did anyone get any good loot during the "Black Friday" sales? I ventured out at 4:30 am to stand in line at Best Buy for this:

I refrained from upgrading to version 4.0 when it came out, but for $49.95 I just couldn't resist buying this one. My DH thought I was crazy to go shopping before the sun came up, but I actually found the adventure kind of fun. The ladies in front of me in line were so funny, that the all the waiting went by pretty quickly.

Yesterday we drove up to check out the progress on our vacation home. Things are coming together nicely and we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. The kitchen has been installed and looks great. I was a little worried that perhaps my choices weren't going to look as great in my own kitchen as they did in all my magazine clippings of designer kitchens I have been saving for years. But fortunately for us, those designers knew what they were doing! The interior doors are all installed, as well as the bathroom fixtures. We are hoping that we will be able to take possession of the house by my DH's birthday next month. That would be quite appropriate since the whole idea of doing this has been a life-long dream of his.

Back in Circulation

Well, I made it through the events of the past week and I am hoping to get through the last month of the year without hearing any more sad news. I did manage to get some Thanksgiving decorations out around the house...ooops! I see that I forgot to replace my Bethany Lowe pumpkin girl from Halloween (in the top picture) with the turkey boy. I am not cooking the bird this year....Yipee! We are bringing the feast to my mother-in-laws house on Thursday. I am in charge of desserts. I think I am going to try making the recipe below along with the traditional pies.

William-Sonoma Pumpkin Dessert Squares

1. Mix 1 box yellow cake mix (reserving 1 cup for topping) with 1/2 cup melted butter and 1 large

egg.

2. Press lightly into the bottom of a 9" x 13" pan.

3. Mix 1 jar of Muirhead Pumpkin Pecan Butter with 2 large eggs and 1/8 cup milk.

4. Pour over cake mixture.

5. Mix 1 cup reserved cake mix with 1 TBLS flour, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/4 cup softened butter and 1 tsp cinnamon.

6. Mix together until crumbly.

7. Spread over the top of the pumpkin layer.

8. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until golden.

Where Am I?

No, I haven't forgotten that I have a blog. And I haven't fallen off the face of the earth either. There has been a lot happening here lately. A co-worker of mine passed away quite suddenly and we are all still reeling from the news. It is interesting how someone's premature death always makes us take inventory of our own lives and realize how short life really is. I would say that is one of the positive things that a death has to offer. {I am one of those people who always try to find reasons for everything that happens....it drives me DH nuts!} Anyway, I am trying to process all of this and take some time to reflect on my own life and how I can live more in the moment. The memorial service is this Sunday, so hopefully I can get back to creating and blogging next week.

1 Week of Artworks

This is fascinating to watch...it's "doodling" to the nth degree!

Veteran's Day

Election Day

Artwork adapted from the book "Vote" by Eileen Christelow.