Christmas Pics

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I hope each of you have had a wonderful Christmas. We had a good day. First we opened presents at our house, then we went to my Dad's and opened presents with him, and then he went with us to my in-law's for dinner, more presents, and visitng thru the early evening.

Here are a few pics from Christmas Eve & Christmas Day.

Christmas Eve







My personal tradition: an "after everyone is in bed and Santa has arrived" picture of the Christmas tree. As you can see in the pic, Sasha & Sam were "helping" me.



Christmas Day

Kendra's cat, Sam is surrounded by the cats' new toys and can't decide what to play with first.



What would Christmas morning be without those "oh so glamourously dressed" opening presents photos???

This green chair was the #1 item on Kendra's wish list.

Below: Tim is opening an Optimus Prime (Transformer) from a family in the church. He's also looking thru an exploding box I made him of pics of his cat Prissy. Prissy died last April.

Ian's mission of the morning was to hit Kendra's cat Sam with a ball of tissue paper. He finally succeeded.



Ian's cat, Tigger, enjoying Kendra's new chair.

At my in-law's house:

Dad opening a present -- Tim's dad is seen teasing Kendra in the background. Ian enjoys watching someone else tease her.

Kendra with the first item for her hope chest (no she doesn't have the actual cedar chest yet).

I wanted a picture of the 4 of us taken today. This turned out to be much tougher than I thought. Our camera is good at taking blurry shots so those that had all 4 of us looking at the camera were blurry and the rest....well, you'll see..... :)

Christmas Tags

For some of my gifts this year, I decided to make my own tags. For some, I'm altering blank 2"x6" bookmarks. This way, they can be used even after they've done their job as a package tag. I used some more of Basic Gray's Figgy Pudding line for these. I used the BG papers & fibers, Offray ribbon and some stickles for accents & sparkle.

Chistmas Cards

I've made a variety of Christmas cards this year. Here are a few pics of them:

I made some for a swap on Scraps-N-Such. I used Basic Gray's Figgy Pudding line and a stamp set from CTMH. I stamped directly on the ribbon and added some stickles for a little sparkle.




I used papers and stamp sets from Stampin' Up to make the following cards. I love to make the envelopes coordinate with my cards -- you see a few of those here.

Isn't She Lovely?

I was challenged to use some song lyrics to title a layout. I love this pic of Kendra from our vacation this past summer so the phrase, "Isn't she lovely?" came to mind. Chalk it up to a prejudiced Mom if you want. :)

The card under the "K" lifts up to reveal journaling which says:
Our summer vacation this year included a couple day trips as a family. On this Sunday, Aug. 19, 2007, wearing her favorite dress, Kendra let me do a mini photo shoot. While she grows more lovely on the outside all the time, what the camera doesn't show is how lovely she is becoming on the inside. She has had a rough year physically. However, she's allowing the Lord to help her grow spiritually thru these tough times. It's exciting to watch her growing and maturing. We are looking forward to seeing how the Lord will use her and the lessons she's learning in her future. To us, she's very lovely.

God's Comfort

I've been working on another circle journal layout. This time, the topic is to scrap a time when we felt the Lord's presence in our lives. I chose the period of time after my Mom died. That was a time when I truly felt the Lord's presence, grace, & comfort. Here's my LO. The picture is from our wedding.



The journaling says: Feb. 23, 1992, God called my mom Home to be with Him. I had never had to face anything so difficult before. One afternoon, as I lay on our bed, I remember praying, "Lord, I can't do this by myself. You have to help me." And He did. I felt His peace like I never had before. I've never forgotten His comfort and it's helped me have the faith to know He'll help me thru other difficult times as well.

Words of Comfort Card Deck

I made a deck of "comfort verses" for a friend that is going thru a really rough time right now. These are the Scriptures I go to when I need the Lord's comfort. I also included the words to a song that I find myself singing whenever those tough times come. I'm hoping she will find comfort & encouragement in these cards too.


I altered some cards from a kids' deck of "Go Fish" cards to make my deck/mini-album. Some of the cards are blank on the back -- though they are covered with the patterned paper. This mini-album or deck does have a back cover. But since it's just covered with patterned paper and no ribbons or embellishments, I didn't include pics. I used a note-book ring to bind them together and tied ribbons on the ring to hide it & decorate it.














This is my theme song during the storms of life. The chorus has been my prayer on many occasions when I just didn't know what or how to pray.

I've Been Tagged

I've been tagged by my friend Patter http://triplethescraps.blogspot.com/.

Here are the rules which must be posted on your blog if you are tagged:
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself: some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them).
4. Let them know they've been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs.

Here are the 7 facts about me:

1. I do NOT like mornings. I can stay up late at night pretty easily but get up early in the AM -- YUCK!
2. My favorite drink is a mocha cappuccino (white chocolate preferably).
3. I'm a pastor's daughter, a pastor's wife, and a future-pastor's mother.
4. I really enjoy old classic musicals.
5. I love cats. My family & I are currently owned by 3.
6. My favorite season of the year is fall.
7. I love a clean house but do not like house-cleaning.

I now tag 7 of my friends:

Bethy http://scraps-n-such.com/scrapbits/?cat=3
Gina http://ginablogs-a-lot.blogspot.com/
Noel http://noelmignonlayouts.blogspot.com/index.html
Sabrina http://withallmyheartsabrina.blogspot.com/
Erika http://scrappycrafts.blogspot.com/
Sara http://rainbowcloudsbermuda.blogspot.com/
Erin http://erinbassett.typepad.com/


Have fun!

Sasha Belle

This was for Round 1 of the current Chinese Whispers game on ScrapJazz. It was just released to be posted today.

Journaling: We adopted Sasha on 1-26-06, when she was about 6 mos. old. Since that time she was brought lots of fun & playfulness to our home. She keeps the other cats moving with her love of running, chasing & wrestling. She hold the firm belief that anything & everything was meant for her to play with. She is our adorable "Sasha Belle."

Journaling around top pic: On my scrap chair waiting to scrap with me.

Journaling around bottom pic: Surveying things from the top of the cat tree.

Kendra-isms

One of the monthly challenges on Scraps-n-Such is to scrap an ISMs page. An "ism" is a saying that is unique to a family or person. Maybe something cute a child said when they were little or family expressions. Here is my page of Kendra-isms. The pictures were taken when she was almost 2. The sayings span a range from early talking to about 5.

Papa's Pumpkin

My dad decorated a pumpkin at his assisted living facility. He really enjoyed himself. Here's a LO I did of his pumpkin. Dad was a soldier in the Marines during WWII. He's still quite patriotic and carried that love into his pumpkin decoration.

Water

This week's weight loss card theme was Water. Do we drink it? Why or why not? What do you like about water, etc.? Here's my card:

Mini-Album for my new great-niece

I recently had a great-niece born (I have 4 great-nephews). I made a mini-album from envelopes for her. Here are some pics of it. All pages have a pull-out insert. Most of these inserts have space for her parents and other family members to record their thoughts about her arrival.