STARBUCKS INSPIRATION

I guess this year had a lot of flack about Starbucks going with a plain red cup instead of a holiday print.

It was strange, I only saw posts about people saying to “get over it”, but I never saw anything that said anyone had an issue with it.

Personally I could care less.  However I did want a bag to put some stuff in.

I added the cards that I loved and family letters into my starbucks bag.

DAY NINETEEN

Tonight we went around to look at the neighborhood lights.  We found a street that had a contest and we saw some pretty impressive decorations.  One house actually had a ski life for small stuffed animals.   They really did a great job.

DAY TWENTY

I had some images I really liked that I wanted to add to my album.   They make it feel like Christmas.

ANOTHER INSERT

Here is another insert that I made from my Cricut.

You can check out the cutting files HERE

I decided to use glitter paper

On the backside I took some wooded stars from Studio Calico and embossed them in metallics and white embossing powder.  I put a transparency with red dots on the page and glued down the stars.

Thanks for looking!

DAY SEVENTEEN

Today I went with Mercedes to drop off gifts to the different shelters.  In case you do not know, I do dog rescue with Mercedes and find the critters new homes.

We went to Best Friends in Mission Hills and to the shelter in South Los Angeles.

DAY EIGHTEEN

On the following day I went back to the local shelter in Castaic.   I gave them their gifts and spoke with the head of the shelter.  My brother came with me and when we were done we fed treats to all the dogs.  I was thrilled to see a lot of empty stalls, so there were just a few dogs.  We were able to feed treats three times, by the time we made the third round, the dogs were wagging their tails.   Find your next best friend at a local shelter.

ADOPT! DON’T SHOP!

Doggie prisoners!!!  Hope they find their forever home soon!!!

Thanks for looking!

DAY FIFTEEN

I wanted to show the gift wrapping process.  Ugh, I took a picture of the wrapping paper and nothing else.

DAY SIXTEEN

For the last few years I made my own Christmas cards.  It is always a struggle and I always start too late.   I was going to make another card but the sample card took me over an hour.  Oh No!  It is too much and I do not have enough time.  So I switched to another card I made for a class.

I made a smaller pocket page and glued my card onto it.  The card used a snow stencil and some different inks to make the trees.  And a heck of a lot of masking.   I like this card.

The back side of the card.  Keeping with the retro theme.

Thanks for looking!

I added this Christmas picture of my sister Elaine and myself.  I was probably around 13, but who knows.

The flood pants I am wearing crack me up.   Not to mention the print.  But the award for geek clothes go to my sister in her caftan.

I think the cat was Pinks or Patches.   She blends into the caftan so it is hard to tell.

DAY THIRTEEN

Tree decorating day!!!!   I have an artificial tree that has lights that fade and turn colors.  It is so easy to put together.  However I have had other fake trees that looked prettier, but at this ripe old age, easy is best.

The gold burst behind the number 13 is a great set from Do Crafts that is call Glitterations.   It is hard to tell but these are filigree snowflakes and stars.

What I love about using a digital journaling cards is that I can change the colors.  I was able to make the Shine Bright card to be purple like the tree in my picture.  And with my new nifty printer it comes out so nice.  But again I had issues with how much glitter to add to the pocket.

DAY FOURTEEN

I wanted to showcase the silly hats I made my dogs wear.   LOL.  Every year.  Olive (the white Maltese) has no issues with outfits.  Penny (the black and white terrier) not so much.  She hates it.  LOL

It is hard to see but the day 14 is on a foiled pattern paper from Heidi Swapp including the snowflake.   I used blue foil to coordinate with the page.

I wanted to do a clear overlay with words of my Christmas.  I used some transparencies that are for ink jet printers.  I liked how it came out.

Underneath the transparency I used an October Afternoon snow scene.   I added the word JOY using some grey foam thickers.

On the back of this paper I placed another photo from my youth.  A picture of all of us and the family cat Rusty.  If you noticed the outfits, it was the same from the stocking photo.  I loved that little outfit.  My sister had a friend named Mary Lee and she was real petite so she was about my size.  Not to mention that her family was very wealthy. So on occasion I would get hand me downs from Mary Lee.  They were awesome clothes.  This one was a wonderful white dress with a red velvet jacket.  Oh how I loved this dress.  So glad I have a photo of the dress for my memories.

Thank you for looking!

For this post I wanted to share my toy page.  I searched for old Sears wish books to find images for toys that I have received as a child.

I started by making a mini page and used some  7 Gyspies old flash cards to spell out the word TOY.

I sewed it down on a glitter pocket with some ephemera from October Afternoon.  Yes too much glitter again.  Sigh!  When will I learn.

This page has some waterfall pockets with the wish book pages in them.  On the first page was the snowman icee machine. Not sure who got this as a gift, but I played with it for years.

This barbie was something I loved.  I would change the color of her hair and her outfit.  I also remember the Mystery Date game.  I would endlessly turn the wheel to see which man I would end up with.  Loved that game.

I remember playing the Quija Board.  I think it was my sister Elaine’s game but I remember it very well and played with it a lot.  Today, I won’t touch those things.

I know these pictures are really hard to see so I am also posted it below so you can enjoy!

I did not add this one to my book, but I had an easy bake oven.

The prices crack me up!   Oh the good old days!

DAY ELEVEN

I usually put out some Christmas decorations in the house.  Most of them are vintage or vintage inspired.  I got some vintage style kitchen towels from World Market (love this store).  I did not decorate much this year, but at least the towels made it out.

On this page I added some cute trim from October Afternoon and some old jewel embellishments from my stash.

Close up of the trim.

Oh by the way, around this time my printer took a dump.  I hated that printer.  I went and bought a Canon Pixma MG7720.

It was a more pricey model but it is awesome.  The photos I have printed are clear and beautiful.   I love it.

DAY TWELVE

This was Game Night at a friends house.   I met this friend at my book club and she found out I love board games.  She invited me to game night.  I learned to play Settlers of Catan.

Fun game!  Really enjoyed learning it.  It takes strategy and patience and is a long game.  But fun.  I lost.  LOL.

I made my world famous Chicken Buffalo Dip  (search my blog for the recipe).  Everyone loved it.

Thanks for looking!

DAY NINE

I really like this page!   Not sure if it was the soft plaids and wood. or the cute gold dog.

This day was about dropping of some of the candy goodies that I made.

I dropped off to the Castaic Animal Shelter, the Sheriff Station and both Libraries.

They always appreciate the goodies.

To make the gold dog. I used double sided Sticky Tape to cut out a lab dog from a die that I have from Poppy Stamps

Then I put the sticky side on the wood paper and removed the other sticky side and rubbed gold foil on the sticky tape.    I like how he turned out.

Here is a close up of the dog.

DAY TEN

I wanted to capture my addiction to magazines.  To some they are a mess and a clutter.  To me they are a cheap entertainment.  A magazine can cost around $5.00 and you can read it from cover to cover.  Read it outside.  Read it while waiting in a doctor’s office.  Read them in a hot bath.   Read them at night in bed.   Read them cuddled up with the critters on a cold night.  So much entertainment for hardly any money.    I get inspiration, I get ideas, I love magazines.

At Christmas I usually get cooking mags and decorating magazines.  I get so many ideas.  And when I am done, I toss them.

On Pinterest there are a lot of inspiration for making your December album.  I saw someone make a vellum photo page and wanted to try.

The difficult part is figuring out what to put behind the picture so it did not look weird.   This was the lesser of many evils.

This was an old Christmas photo of opening gifts on Christmas Day.  My Grandmother is sitting in the back, and my Dad was sitting behind my sister and me.  Obviously I could not be bothered to look up and smile for the camera.

Here is the paper behind the vellum.

On the back of this Christmas Singing paper was a cool black and white print.  I decided to put gold glitter letter stickers on the back to spell out Happy Holidays.  I really like the gold against the black and white.

How in the heck did I dent the top of the page.  That dent screams at me.  I guess we all do something like that.

I love the gold wreath on this page.  It is a puffy sticker set that is awesome by My Mind’s Eye Christmas on Market Street.

Thanks for looking!

DAY SEVEN

For the back of the last page I wanted to capture a bunch of pictures of things that remind me of my youth.

Alpha Beta – the grocery store we use to shop at

Bob’s Big Boy – Where everyone went after the High School Football Game, not to mention anytime, was so awesome.  I love Big Boys.  They still have one in Burbank.

S&H Green Stamps and Blue Chip Stamps – I use to fill in those books for fun.

Fedco – I loved Fedco!  It was a membership store that was awesome!   This was way before Cost Co. or Sam’s Club.

Thifty Store – Their ice cream was the best.  I usually got Chocolate Chip.  My Mom would get pistachio.  Sometimes I would get Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream.  A scoop was about 5-10 cents.

The Helmsman Bakery Truck  – Oh the fresh doughnuts.  Mom would get fresh bread and we would beg for the doughnuts.

Jack in the Box – Nothing like the clown you talk to.   I remember when they blew the clown up.  Nice to know he is back, not not in the box.

DAY SEVEN

I had to journal about the family Christmas Stockings.   My Mom made all our stockings from hand.  They were felt with little sequins and images.  Mine was Green.   Mine was also the only one that was backwards.  I was the last kid so I am not sure if it was because Mom was stressed with four kids, or because I am so unique that I just had a different stocking.   I still have the stocking.

For my fur family, I have bought stocking that are needlepoint.  There is NO WAY I would ever finish making one.  Let alone for all the critters.  The only issue is getting new ones for the new critters.  It took me forever to find new ones for the dogs.  But close enough!

DAY EIGHT

Day eight is about crafting traditions.  I love blankets, quilts and afghans.  So I started a tradition of making one for Christmas.  This year I am crocheting a Christmas Ripple Afghan.  I love the colors.  Last year I made a quilt.  So maybe I will switch from year to year.   LOL.  It will take me two years to finish this afghans, I have no time.  Ugh!

Thanks for looking!

COOKIE BAKING WEEKEND

Every year my sister and I get together to make candies and cookies.   We switch houses each year, I do even years, she does odd years.  So being 2015, I went to her house.

We usually plan what we will make a few weeks before and we usually try out a new recipe.  Some recipes end up being a classic like our peanut brittle.

As you can see, the fused pocket has some glitter on the cookie header picture.  I found at Beverly’s store thin little wooden snowflakes from Bo Bunny which was perfect for the lower picture.  I had some cute paper that were recipe measurements which matched perfectly.

I decided to add a little pocket between the pages.   I decided to use old advertisement images that I remember from my youth.   My mom use to have in her recipe drawer old pamphlets from the 50’s.   This one really reminds me of Mom.

I made it into a pocket and added a recipe card inside that listed the different goodies we made that year.

On the back side was an ad from the Pillsbury Dough Boy.

I love the dough boy, I actually had a plastic dough boy toy that you could push his belly.   Ahh Memories.

On this page I had pictures of my goodies.

Looking at these pictures make me hungry for sweets!   LOL.

DAY THREE

Day three was the December meeting of my book club.  This year we got together at Ruth’s house to celebrate and do a small gift exchange.  I so enjoy my book club!  I have not read in a while and this club has reawakened my love for reading.

On this page I did a collage of all the books we have read so far and a collage of my book club members.  I am sure as the year goes by we will lose some members and gain some new readers.

For this page, I pulled out some really old Heidi Swapp clear ghost letters and colored them with alcohol inks to spell the word BOOK and stapled onto the Story tag from October Afternoon.

My December 3 journaling card was from In a Creative Bubble.   She makes awesome pocket page cards and brush files.  Her stuff changes all the time, so these may no longer be available, but I am sure she has some other awesome stuff.  This is also where I got the “Traditions” journaling card from yesterdays page.

You can find the link HERE

Before going to Day 4, I added an old memory photograph.

This is a picture of my siblings.   I am the cute little one the right.

It does not snow very often in Southern California, so this must have been a big deal.

This next spread I did because I really, really, really like this paper.  I could not cover it up, I wanted everyone to see the cuteness of this paper.

I decided to add a viewmaster reel to the page to identify my favorite movies I watch at Christmas.   A Christmas is not a Christmas without these movies.

Here is a close up of the reel.   I got the reel from Designer Digitals.  You can get it HERE.

I ALWAYS watch Little Women at Christmas, either the 1949 version with June Allyson or the 1994 version with Winona Ryder.

To add something to the back of this page, I needed another blank sort of page, so I added an old photo when my nieces were little.  They are in their thirties now.  Oh how time flies.

DAY FOUR

I decided to take photos of the outside of the house on this day.   Some years I do a lot of decorations, but this year was simple.  Some poinsettias on the porch.  A Wreath on the door.  Greenery from the porch light. And lights wrapped around the big tree in the yard.

On the poinsettia pocket I added some clear letters to spell out RED and added some glitter and stars.  I fused the pocket closed with my fuse tool.

Thanks for looking!