Travelers notebook Christmas pages

Of course I had to put in the photos of the Star of Bethlehem.

The top one is mine, but I wanted something

a bit more self-explanatory so

internet to the rescue.

Wasn't that an amazing phenomenom!

We didn't get many Christmas cards (and that's okay)

but the ones we did get fit perfectly in the book.

It's also cool to get photos with the cards so

I added it to the inside of the card

with just a tad of embellies.

And the grands always have an amazingly lovely card.

Always a wonderful addition to my book.

I was also debating on adding something to the back

but I left it blank. I can always spiff it up.

And grandson Owen who is a total origami officienado

made those and aren't they amazing.

Naturally they needed to be highlighted

along with mom's note.

I got a gift in this sweet bag and saved it.

And then I fussy cut the deer and tree out of course.

And added to the page on the left.

As I didn't have a lot of photos I had to add

a filler page naturally. I already have one side that's blank.

That tree and deer on the other side is cool and works

well with the photos since they're a tad on blurry side.

Not my fault this time.

Just sayin....

On the right side is the backside for the journaling to the "deer" page

and I tried to recreate the "snow" using

a really really juicey ink pad rolled out

in more of a Snowstorm.

I always try to save the restaurant utensil bags

because they're so cool and work well in my books.

It's a great place for journaling. 

Especially when I'm particularly windy.

And there's the backside.

Using some leftover mixed media papers I did

with some dylusions paints.

Of course I couldn't leave the backside blank and bland

however, IT'S GOING THE WRONG WAY

and driving me NUTS.

I don't have another one or I would because

there's no way to unglue them babies - undu isn't

especially helpful with tacky glue...sooooo

it's gonna make me crazy. 

Maybe I'll relocate the Culvers page and I won't

be sooooo crazy.

Tis the season for Christmas lights

 

So I'm sure you remember your parents driving you around just

to look at Christmas lights.

It is a tradition!

So,Yeah we inflicted that on our kids too.

LOL!

It was awesome back then and it's even more awesome now.

This is only part of the lights on this farm

as I was on the right side - I totally missed everything on left side

as there as a lot of gawking going on the right.

 ARCADIA FL 

rocking the Christmas lights.

ENJOY..........

Next time we go through I'm sitting on the left side......So stay tuned.

 

Mixed Media album - Merry Christmas in July

Christmas in July seems to have made the big time

and more people are celebrating.

Here are the grandsons representing in their 

favorite grinch shirts.

I love the grinch.

So the pink and the red - meh - this was a premade

page that needed a photo - so ignored the red and I concentrated on

all the greens and got to USE a lot of stash.

Yasss!!!

Didn't need a lot of journaling and if one opens

the file folder

 (a die cut which makes me swoon) 

there are some TH sayings...

Love how fun it turned out.

Travelers Notebook - Christmas pages

These pages are fun and I love the Santa peeking out.

I love it so much I did two pages that

don't belong to a 2-pager but because I liked

how I placed the embellies I decided to do it twice.

 

So no sense in boring you with two separate posts.

I fussy cut those flowers out of an OLD Studio Calico paper pad.

They work really well for Christmas pages. 

If you look at the pretty melon colored doily - that

came from doing some watercolor pages that 

you will see in tomorrow's post.

Since I got carried away -with embellies and posts that

I need room for journaling, hence the 2nd page

with an envelop and card tucked inside.

 We had a lovely time at Tom's sister's for Christmas Eve

and that cutie patootie at the top was the star of the night.

 Love the sentiment on the card and there's

plenty of room on the back for journaling.

 Below I carried on with the adorable Santa because

I could and it looks really cute on this page

with those darling fussy cut flowers.

So my son sent me that Christmas ornament that

looks like him - what a neat gift.

So of course, there's a page.

More Really OLD Studio Calico and Tim Holtz.

TH - The best Christmas Card ever

 My two favorite nieces sent these

two gingerbread peeps as a Christmas card.

How cool and fun are they.

So instead of going into my "Christmas Card page"

they are in my mixed media album

because it was the only one of three big enough.

Had I thought quicker they'd be in my 8.5x11 album.

 Did a bit of watercolor in the background

and broke out some Pink Fresh embellishments and papers.

They make me smile.

 Tim Holtz, Pink Fresh

Shine! A Christmas Page

Photoplay papers from my LSS didn't come easy

as they are all "heavy" papers.

Therefore, I rolled with white and that seems to tame 

it down. 

The mists that are in the background using

the packaging technique look closer in real life.

 Sort of.

Love the banners and the puffy embellishments

scattered about.

And Sam, the youngest grandkidlet enjoying

his Christmas presents and a snack.

Can't go wrong with that.

Was feeling a bit mixed media-ry

Not sure how I like it but hey!

not every page can be a "Mona Lisa".

 The paper is from the December Studio Calico kit

with some cardstock tossed in for fun.

 I wanted some crazy paper angles which I did

and now I'm like hmmm...

then the paper was too plain so bring out

the watercolors.

Why is it when anyone else does that

it looks really good and mine looks like sooooo

tossed about some watercolors eh? LOL.

Anyway its a fun pix of the grands in their matching pj's.

Maybe I'll crop off that goofy flappy long piece.

I'll let you kow how it works.

OH YEAH!!!

Much better!!!

Our Christmas Tree & Annual Dinner

This paper from Studio Calico is a lot of fun

so I decided to use tree paper with a Christmas tree picture.

I had been fussy cutting pieces of this striped paper

and this wonky strip called my name.

 Fun little cluster anchoring the two photos.

 Our annual dinner party happens near

Christmas and we have a sit down meal for 16 people

and thankfully, the weather is

perfect to have in on our lanai.

We had a lovely time. Lots of great food and laughs.

Journaling is on the back of the page.

Studio Calico.

Photoplay Christmas papers

From my LSS, along with some do-dads.

I fussy cut the banners out from some banner papers

and love how they look on the page.

As well as that moose.

Thanks to my pal Holli who keeps me supplied.

 Went a bit of old school since the papers

were busy to highlight the

collage of photos.

I have been playing around with PicCollage ap

-they do have some free collages you can road test but

you it doesn't allow you to make many changes.

Anyone else use it???

Love to hear your comments.

Anyway cuteness overload on the grands on Christmas morning.

2017 Christmas Card Page

Every year I save my cards the Ali Edwards way

and this year is no exception.

However, every year the cards get fewer and fewer.

Sigh.

This year I decided to fussy cut.

Usually I punch or whack a piece out but some of the cards

were so pretty that I had to just use more of them

which made it a bit awkward when doing 

the page that turned into a double spread - of which

I hardly every do.

I also have a friend that recycles my homemade cards

and the one she sent me this year had my handwriting 

on it and I decided to save it and add to my s/b page.

Love that she recycles my stuff and sends it back.

It's fun!

Anyway, it turned out cute and I'm happy.

The cards with photos were not chopped and are tucked

into the pocket made just for them.

The papers are from my LSS - a company called

Photoplay -  I never heard of this company but pretty all the same.

Christmas cards/ornaments

Broke out another Quikutz 4x4 die

(I'm so rockin' them this week)

Actually it's been over a couple weeks.

I had this flamingo.

Why?

Seriously, I can't answer that except it was

probably an impulse buy many

many many many many

years ago.

And I forgot it was Santa themed.

 So each one of the grandkidlets are getting one.

Their names are on them, and yes,

even the boys are getting pink - because

flamingos are pink.

 I put straws on them wanting to make an ornament type

so they can hang them on their trees if they wish
or just mess around with them. I ordered straws from Studio Calico

(they were on sale) but because

of all the black Friday happenings they shipped late.

So instead of green straws they are pink.

And these pink one's from M's came in 100 piece pack.

Anyone neeeed any pink straws??

Please?

It was actually a lot of fun to do.

Alot of die cutting.

I was also going to use cotton balls for 

Santa's hat but, where's the fun in that so I decided to roll

with stickles. 

Why do I not use stickles more often???

We are have decorated for Christmas - the big tree

needs to get set up.

All in All we are rolling really early this year

mostly because Shane was here and

he was the one to bring it all down from the attic.
How're your decorations coming?

 Bazzill Cardstock.

Just adding a little bit more

I finished this page and while it looks nice

after I saw it in a picture - to me it looked well

meh.

 I tossed back on my desk and messed around with some more

embellishments and mists which added a touch more.

Just what was needed - nothing overwhelming.

Basic Grey - except for the hearts and flowers and nuvo dots.

Making spirits bright

with candy cane striped paper and a bit of dimension

with a sort of star stencil and modeling paste.

Didn't quite work out the way I envisioned.

 I fussy cut the title from a card because it was too big

and the berries because I liked them.

 Can't go wrong with mists - it can cover a number of sins.

And that QK flower is just perfect for the sin. LOL!!

Layers and some pink fresh Christmas words and

there you have Annie (Oakley) in her

pink cowgirl hat. 

I did this page before I started running out of the Christmas papers.

Tags that can be Tree Ornaments

Hopefully!

Hoping the grandkidlets will love them as they

did the ribbons and maybe think about hanging them

on their trees!

Had a fun time making these - mostly all hand 

and fussy cut and really so easy to do.

The trees were made from various project life cards that

sort of had "Christmas" colors and

it was easy to just slice on the diagonal.

The "Merry Christmas" was a stamp I found when cleaning

out my stamps. (Who knew).

My thought was to layer up different size tags, 

thus the gold color but it looked

well goofy and cluttered

so I just fussy cut the sentiment out and ditched the 

multiple tags idea.

Stamped the date with a library stamp from Studio Calico-

love that stamp by Shimelle and use it ALOT.

 Those MAMBI alphas that I didn't think I'd love

seems to be appearing on ALOT

of projects lately.

The stars are punched from some gold glitter paper I picked up

and love having on hand so I'm not running

out of enamels AND I use them with my heart punch

or with any punch which is not only very cost effective and unlimited uses.

Grass chomping giraffe

Every now and then I truly get lucky with the shots.

Probably should've been a camel since its hump day,

but alas no camels at the zoo.

Not much happening at the Murphy's - however,

the weather is beautiful here - a balmy 71

already this a.m.

Got some things rolling on the desk.

Making Christmas tags for the grandkidlets.

We'll see how these roll.

Oh Oh - I did order their presents on Amazon

and they are being shipped in rapid 

order - however, they are not going to get

them until after Christmas.

Sigh.

But won't they be surprised. LOL!!!

Crocheting a baby blanket and because of the ole

fingers, I have to use a bigger needle

and thread now - because that thin stuff

really racks my fingers and they

are not happy for a long time after.

I'm not sure how I feel about the blanket being "bigger."

Babies should have small and dainty.

However, will anyone but me know the difference??