Sketch 104

Looking for some great scrapping inspiration for the New Year? If you haven't joined Sketch Inspiration yet, you really must! My sister, Trisha, provides a new layout sketch every Sunday....and starting in January, she will offer a donated prize to one lucky winner a week! :) Here is my interpretation of this week's sketch, Sketch #104:

Christmas Aftermath

Still recuperating from the four...yes FOUR...Christmases with the family. One with Van's parents, one with his grandparents, one with just us, and one with my family. They were all wonderful, and we are so blessed. However, my living room still has toys and stocking stuffers scattered all over the floor, 2 new bicycles in front of the fireplace, and the tree and decorations are still up. After everything that's been going on, I just haven't even felt like messing with putting all the stuff up, etc. I did manage to get Aaron's stuff all put away in his room and most of mine...but that's as far as I got. :( Will post more soon!

And by the way, don't forget to enter my giveaway!

Merry Christmas!

Giveaway!!!!!!!

Here's the deal. I love comments. I ain't gonna lie. So, leave me a comment on any post anywhere on my blog, and your name will be put into a hat to win a set of 3 Christmas stamps from Crafter's Companion (shown below). The more you comment, the better your chances of winning. Crafter's Companion was our sponsor this month at HYWWP, and they generously supplied us with these cute little stamps!



So comment away and you could win this set of adorable stamps! Winner will be drawn on or around January 1, 2010!

Fa La La La La

Whew, it's been over a week since I blogged! You know all those fun holiday things going on just really take up a lot of time! Let's see...here are some things that have happened since I last blogged:

1. We had our Christmas program at preschool. During practice, one of the kids threw up on stage, so that was exciting. We had a song where all the kids were going to get to use little "jingle bells" to shake, but that ended up being totally chaotic, so at the last minute, the jingle bells were all taken away and only the teachers used them. Aaron had his heart set on getting to use one of those and was heartbroken to find that he wasn't going to get to because of the way other kids were acting with them.....so he refused to sing for the whole program. He knows all the words and sings all the songs at home...but he just stood there on stage. Didn't act bad or pout...just stood there. Not a word was sung by him. LOL

2. The preschool Christmas party was last week. I received some sweet gifts from some of my students, and the kids had a great party. Aaron got to meet Santa and sit in his lap to get a picture taken with him. Cute, cute! After the party, I went out to eat with the other teachers. It was really nice.

3. Evan's class party was last Thursday. I got to help with that and was in charge of the craft (go figure). We made cute little foam snowman ornaments, and the kids really seemed to enjoy it. Evan came home with a big sack full of nice little goodies from his classmates and teachers. I love seeing all the little Christmas projects he's been doing at school. Definitely keeping some of them for the scrapbook!

4. On Thursday night, Evan had a Dual Language program in his school's library. This is his first year in the Dual Language program, and I am just amazed by how quickly he is learning it. He goes to regular English classes with one teacher for a week and then to a Spanish class with a Spanish-speaking teacher for the next week. He has picked it up so quickly that he was chosen out of all the 1st graders in the program to read a story in Spanish at this program. He read the whole Rudolph story in Spanish (and the other kids would repeat the sentences after he read them), and he never missed a beat. He reads Spanish faster than I can even pretend to read it. His pronunciation is amazing! I was so proud of him that when he first started reading the story, my eyes welled up with tears! They read the story and sang a few songs both in Spanish and English. My nephew, Austin, is also in this program as a kindergartner and is doing a FANTASTIC job as well!

5. Friday night, we had our church's leadership Christmas party. Yummy food, great gifts, and good friends...I'm so blessed to have such a great church family. :)

6. This morning, Evan had art class at his daddy's work. They made some very cute paintings that I will display proudly on my fridge until it's time for them to go in the scrapbook.

7. This afternoon, Evan went on his very first deer hunting trip with my dad. Dad loaded up Evan and Austin and headed to the deer lease with a backpack full of snacks and activities to keep them quiet. In Dad's exact words, "It was like trying to take 2 little puppies to church." LOL I received a picture message on my phone right at sunset that showed both boys holding up the antlers on the head of a 9-point buck that Dad shot. Not too bad! ;)

And so there you have it....a brief update on all that's been going on for the last week, and thus the reason why I haven't been blogging until now. I wanted to upload a cute little picture to go with each paragraph, but frankly I'm just too tired to mess with it tonight. We've got our church play (Evan is a wiseman, and Aaron is a donkey...so fitting), Church luncheon/gift exchange, and a birthday party to go to tomorrow, and then we're going to attempt to finish up shopping on Monday out of town. Wow...December is so crazy!!!

Christmas Festivities

It's been a busy weekend! December is in full swing with all the fun Christmas festivities going on. Yesterday evening, Van hosted the annual Christmas puppet/marionette show at the Fine Art Center. With Aaron being the puppet fanatic he is (thanks to the guys who do this show), there was no way we were gonna miss it! The guys were so nice and let Aaron come backstage, handle a few of their marionettes, and they even let him help them load everything up when the show was done. He talked their ears completely off, but they were so nice and answered all of his questions and gave him some great puppeteer advice. He just soaked it all up!



After the puppet show, Van stayed at the Art Center to help the puppet guys load up, and I took the boys to see the lighting of the downtown Christmas tree. Very pretty. :) It was too dang cold to bother with a really great picture, so this one was as good as it got:



After that, we headed to the church for movie night. We watched Joyeaux Noel...amazing story....just awesome.

This morning was our little town's Christmas parade. Nothing too big or exciting, but fun for the boys nevertheless. It was hard to get good pictures of them watching the parade without jumping out onto main street, right in the middle of the parade...but I did what I could. ;) Van's parents were able to meet up with us and stand with us to watch everything. The boys ended up with pocketfuls of candy, and Aaron even managed to somehow get a little cowboy hat. Okay, so I was the one who ran out in the street and grabbed the cowboy hat when they were throwing them to the kids, but I held Aaron's hand while I did that, so that counts...right? :)

More Pages from The Scrap Room's December Kits!

I used these as my "Recipe Cards" for this month. Recipe cards are step-by-step instructions for the layouts, and you can view these if you are a kit club member at The Scrap Room. I was assigned the Websters Pages kit, and here is what I did with it:

On My Christmas Wish list....*watch out, coffee lovers!*

This is at the top of my wish list....



What is it? It's liquid heaven, that's what it is! It's the Mr. Coffee Cafe Frappe Maker. Here are the specs:

The Mr. Coffee® Café Frappe is the only at-home appliance to automatically brew and blend from a single unit, allowing you to create delicious icy blended coffee drinks, in the comfort of your own home. In just three minutes and a simple press of a button, enjoy endless varieties of frosty frappes made to your customization.
FEATURES

* Brew and blends automatically
* Dishwasher-safe blending jar
* Pulse blending button
* Removable brew basket

This is not your grandmother's coffee maker, people. It's Starbucks at home, and for a lot cheaper. In fact, I read one review from a customer who said this tastes EXACTLY like Starbucks Frappuccinos. See, plain coffee is okay...but I really love all those flavored coffees, especially frozen ones. This comes with a recipe booklet for things like:





Ohhhhhhhhh yeah...........

Sketch Inspiration

If you haven't checked out my sister's new sketch site, Sketch Inspiration, you really should! Each Sunday, she will upload a new sketch, and you have until the next Saturday to upload your interpretation of the sketch to her gallery. A weekly prize from a generous sponsor will be up for grabs too! :)

For her first sketch, I created this layout with a monthly kit from Scrapbook Deals 4 U, featuring Dream Street Paper's Sam Collection.

December Barista Projects from The Scrap Room

I love The Scrap Room! This was the first kit club I ever subscribed to, so to be a Barista/Design Team member for this club is such an honor! This month's kit contains products from Making Memories, Pink Paislee, Websters Pages, and Jillibean Soup. Here are a few of the projects I've made. I still have lots of kit left over, not to mention 2 other projects that I made for recipe cards (can't upload those just yet!). :)

New Sketch Site!

Check this out!

I'm so excited! My big sister has decided to start her own Ning community for her sketches! Each week, she will be posting a sketch for inspiration, and you will be able to upload your layout based on her sketch to the gallery. She just recently taught herself how to make sketches on the computer, and she's so good at it! If you'd like to join, please visit here:

Sketch Inspiration

Everything is still new, and she is figuring out how to use Ning, set up albums, etc. So please bear with her as she figures everything out. I'm sure several changes will be made, but thought I'd let you all in on this new and exciting place! Please stop by the forums there and let her know that I sent ya. Hope to see you there! smile.

Jenny


Visit Sketch Inspiration

More Disney Layouts

Trisha and I scrapped together one day during Thanksgiving break, and I got 3 Disney pages done! :) Two of them are downright direct rip-offs of her layouts, but she lifted a couple of mine too...so we're even. ;) This first one was based on a sketch by Valerie Salmon.

Thanksgiving Break

Well, today is the last day of Thanksgiving Break. We had a nice full week of no school, and Van was able to get 3 days of holiday time from work. Thanksgiving started on Wednesday afternoon for us. We had Thanksgiving dinner at Van's parent's house, along with his parents, brother and sister-in-law, grandparents, Uncle, Aunt, Cousin, and cousin's baby. Other than eating a glorious feast of delicious food, the majority of our time there was spent playing Beatles Rockband. Yes, this family knows how to rock...even Grandmamma.




For lunch on Thanksgiving Day, we went to my older sister's house to eat with her and her family, my mom (dad had to work), my grandpa, and our "adopted" family (The Lin Family from China). Soooo much food! But ohhhhhh so good! We came home for naps after lunch and then headed back over there for supper. Dad was able to be there for supper since he got off work at 3:00, so it felt complete then. :) After eating, the kids enjoyed wrestling in the floor with my dad, playing on the trampoline, and running around burning off all those Thanksgiving calories.



Somehow, I let my older sister talk me into getting up early on Friday morning and going Black Friday shopping with her in a town an hour away. Little sis was able to go too. I got a wake-up call at 3:15 a.m....yes, there IS a 3:15 a.m....from my sister, making sure I was up and getting ready. I had tossed and turned all night and had hardly slept at all, so I was up and quickly got ready to go. At 3:45 a.m...yes, there IS a 3:45 a.m....both of my sisters pulled up in big sister's SUV and looked entirely too well put together and happy for that early in the morning. I, on the other hand, had thrown on a hoodie and a ball cap, carelessly tossed on some makeup in the dark, and was not so eager to begin the day.

Our first stop was to Old Navy....I mean, how can you resist $5 fleece and $10 kids' jeans? That was the longest line we waited in, but Target was a close second. The end of the checkout line at Target was at the back of the store...I kid you not! Thankfully, we only had a few items and were able to go through the express checkout line....which was still a LOOONG line. We went to a few other places, and I think Trisha won the title of "Most Successful Shopper" for the day. I think she cut the circulation off of one of her arms while carrying her bags from the mall to her car.

We got back home, and hubby and the boys talked me into putting up the Christmas tree. So, we spent the rest of the afternoon getting Christmas decorations out and setting up the tree.

On Saturday, I was still feeling hungover from the previous day's events, but for some crazy reason, we decided to take the boys to Six Flags in Arlington. I had won some free tickets back in the summer, and they had to be used by the end of the year, so since the weather was gorgeous yesterday (73° and sunny), we decided we better go now or risk never getting to use those tickets. So, we loaded up the boys, picked up little sis and her boyfriend, and headed 2 hours away. We first went to my uncle's house in Ft. Worth for lunch and to visit for a while. Then, we all went to Toys 'R Us to do a little shopping. Little sis and her boyfriend entertained Evan and Aaron while Van and I did some Christmas shopping for them. After shopping and spending too much money, we were on our way to Six Flags Over Texas!

Six Flags was fun, but after going to Disney World this past summer, it seemed a little more lame than when I had gone in the past. Everything was just so much on a smaller scale than Disney. We had fun though. The boys even rode a few little roller coasters, and I rode The Titan. It was awesome! It's one of the 10 tallest roller coasters in the U.S., and that first big drop was such a rush! Aaron got to meet Bugs Bunny while Evan and I were in line for a ride. Aaron also met a couple of reindeer while the rest of us were in line for something else. Both boys got to meet Foghorn Leghorn (you know the chicken from all the good cartoons we used to watch when we were kids, back when they showed REAL cartoons). We finally made it home around midnight after everyone except for me and Van fell asleep in the car the second we left the park. We were all exhausted and glad to be home.



The boys and I stayed home from church this morning so that I could catch up on things around the house since being gone for the last 2 days. I'm on my 4th load of laundry right now, and Evan is driving me nuts about being bored while Aaron is taking a nap, so I guess that's enough blogging for me!

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving break! Tomorrow, it's back to the ol' grind!

Living Room Contest UPDATE! :)

So a while back, I posted about making the top 100 finalists for a living room sweepstakes/makeover by the very talented designer, Angelo Surmelis. The photos are now up on the Facebook site, and voting BEGINS TOMORROW!

How to Vote: Simply post a comment on the event wall telling them PHOTO #20 - Jennifer from Texas and WHY. The photos are labeled by number, and include the name and location of the entrant. The photo with the most votes will automatically be entered into the top 5 contenders for a chance to win a brand new living room makeover from celebrity designer Angelo Surmelis, and other exciting prizes.

The entrant number and location will be located under the photos. My room photo is PHOTO #20 - Jennifer from Texas.

As you can see, my room is boring. We love good style and design, but we just don't know where to go with this. It's an L-shaped room that actually functions as 3 different rooms: living room, dining room, and office for me and hubby.

I appreciate your votes...please spread the word and get me some comments! :)

Thankful Blog #15

I'm thankful today for family outings! We loaded up and headed out of town this morning to do a little shopping. Quick little trip, but fun to be able to spend time together anyway. Our public schools are out all week for the holiday, and today is my husband's day off of work....so it was fun just being together. :)

Thankful Blog #14

I'm thankful today for A CLEAN HOUSE! I've been organizing, throwing away, decluttering, and cleaning up all morning, and it feels great! Next on my to-do list: My closet!!! dun dun dunnnnnn

Thankful Blog #13

Today, I'm thankful for days off of work! I didn't have any transcription work to do today, so I got to snuggle up with Aaron at naptime and try to get a little nap with him. Didn't work, but it was nice to be able to try anyway. I'm just not much of a napper, no matter how tired I am. I had a nice afternoon of catching up on the computer and doing some housework. No work deadlines...and it was great!

Thankful Blog #12

I am thankful today for a job I can do out of my home. I worked today and didn't even have to get out of my pajamas. Nice....

Wordless Wednesday - 11/18/09

Thankful Blog #11

I am thankful today for a nice, hot shower in the mornings. It's my quiet place. The one time during the day that I am totally alone. Relaxing and refreshing. A time to gather my thoughts and say some prayers before the day starts. Thank God for hot, clean water!

Thankful Blog #10

Today's thankfulness is for family meal time. I love that my husband and boys eat supper with me every night. It doesn't have to be big and fancy, but just being together makes the meal so good. :)

Thankful Blog #9

I am thankful today for a warm, cozy home! Sure, I need a kitchen makeover/remodel desperately, and there are always little thing here and there that I would definitely change about our house...but when it comes right down to it, I am incredibly thankful for our home. We've already made so many wonderful memories here with backyard birthday parties, cousin sleepovers, late night catching up on the DVR with hubby, bringing Aaron home for the first time, holidays, visits from friends and family, and so many more! This has been a home of happiness and love...and that is our goal. As the colder weather approaches, I am reminded to be thankful for my shelter...my safe-haven.....my home.

Thankful Blog #8

I am so very thankful for my hobby of scrapbooking! Those of you out there who are scrappers too know what I'm talking about! ;) I love watching my childrens' faces when they look through their albums and remember things that they would have otherwise forgotten had I not taken the time to take pictures and make a page about it. I love that their little lives are so documented. I love that they will be able to show their children their albums and talk about the stories with them. I love that I get a cool, meaningful way to be creative.

Speaking of being thankful for my hobby, here are 2 layouts I did this weekend!





And here are 2 recent ones I did for this month's sponsor at Have Your Way with Paper. Our sponsor for November is the wonderful Jillibean Soup!! Their products are awesome, and so much fun to work with!

Thankful Blog #7

Today, I am thankful for a washer and dryer...and fresh, clean sheets on the bed! I know this may sound like a little thing, but I'm so glad I don't have to go to laundry mats to wash and dry things. I can do that all in the convenience of my own home. When Van and I first got married, we lived in an apartment that didn't offer a washer and dryer. I had to haul our laundry to my parents' house every weekend and sit there while it all washed and dried. It was awful and such a time waster...not to mention, I felt bad for using my parents' stuff! So, today as I washed three loads of laundry...I was reminded again of how blessed I am to have this modern convenience! :)

Thankful Blog #6

I am thankful today for good health! Recently, there have been a lot of people in my life who have gotten sick or have gotten a new diagnosis of something life-threatening. It makes me so aware of how grateful I need to be for my health. Not only my health, but my family's health as well. I am truly grateful.

Thankful Blog #5

My thankfulness today is for my awesome online sisters at Have Your Way With Paper. This past summer, a group of us had a chance to meet in person, and it was the trip of a lifetime. We all met because of scrapbooking, but the friendships that have formed are so precious to me.

Speaking of Have Your Way With Paper, we have an online weekend crop going on there that started today! Lots of fun challenges and prizes...come on over and join us and see just how precious these ladies are!

Thankful Blog #4

Today, I am thankful for my two sweet little boys. I just made them some fruit ka-bobs, which they gobbled down quickly, and now they are outside playing in our backyard. Just sitting here at my desk, listening to them giggle and play together, is such a blessing. They are beautiful and smart little boys....who make my life worth living.

**This Just In!!!**

I could just piddle in my pants!!!!!!! I am so excited I can barely even type!!!!

Okay, so I have turned into my mother and am an avid watcher of HGTV now. Well, there is this one designer on HGTV whom I have watched several times on several shows and just LOOOOOVE his work. Seriously, I've never disliked anything he's ever designed. He used to be on "Clean Sweep", and more recently had his own show called "Rate My Space." I'm talking about Angelo Surmelis. The totally talented, awesome room designer!

So, I've followed his blog for a while, and he announced a contest a while back about a "Search & Rescue" Room Makeover sweepstakes. To enter, you had to enter an essay about how the recession has limited your ability to design your home.



Well, I entered and wrote an essay on when our house flooded and how that caused us to not have enough money to really establish our living room/dining room/office area the way we want to (it's kinda all one big room).

So, I received an email today that said out of 6,000 applicants, my essay was selected to be in the top 100!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The next step is: I have to send them a pic of my room with either me or a loved one it it. Naturally, I will choose to sit my boys in the room for the pic. :)

So, then they will take the top 100 photos and put them on their Facebook page. Then, my friends/contacts are supposed to go leave comments under my room photo...the one with the most comments automatically gets in the top 5!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Commenting starts on Nov. 20. I will let you all know when it's ready and when comments can officially start. PLEASE help me out with this if you have a FB page...this would be an absolute dream come true for me, and can you imagine the scrapbook pages I could do with this remodel?!?!?!? LOL

Thankful Blog #3

Today, I am thankful for beautiful Fall mornings! I woke up to the let the dog out this morning, and there was a light fog over the backyard as the sun was coming up. It was beautiful! It was nice and cool, but not too cold. I love this time of year, when everything changes colors and the Texas heat finally cools off. I hope you see the beauty around you today, good weather or not. :)

Thankful Blog #2

Today, I am thankful for my husband of almost ten years! We met and started dating when I was only 14 and he was 16. Mondays are his days off of work, but I work at preschool on Monday mornings, and Aaron goes with me. When we get home, the house is picked up and lunch is usually made and waiting on us. I am so thankful for a husband who cares and provides for his family. He is extremely talented and strives to be a Godly man. I take him for granted so many times, but today I am taking the time to let everyone out there know....I AM THANKFUL FOR YOU, Van!

Being Thankful...and a RAK!

I received this challenge on Facebook, but now I'm passing it on to you - my blogger friends! Every day this month until Thanksgiving, think of one thing that you are thankful for and post it as a new blog post. "Today I am thankful for..." Elaborate a little or a lot...let's just give thanks every day from now until Turkey Day! :)

If you want to do this too, please leave me a comment below with a link to your blog. I would LOVE to read all of the thankful posts...and to celebrate, all participants will get their name but in a drawing to receive a small RAK as my way of saying, "Thank you for being thankful." For every day you leave a comment and link me to your new "Thankful" blog post for the day, you will receive 1 entry.

So, are you in?

Today, I am thankful for the freedom to worship God. In church this morning, our pastor told us to thank God out loud for something, and that was the first thing that popped into my mind -- being thankful for my freedom to worship. What a fortunate and blessed country we are! So many Christians in other countries are persecuted for their beliefs...I wonder if we truly realize how blessed we are to be able to freely worship God here in America? Something to think about!

I love Thursdays because....

One of the best shows ever. Can't wait to see tonight's episode.

That's what she said.
----------------------------------------------------

Wordless Wednesday 11/04/09

November Scrap Room Kit!

The November kit for The Scrap Room is posted! You will LOVE this kit! It features products from Cosmo Cricket, Crate Paper, Pebbles Inc., and Bo Bunny! How's that for fabulous?!

Here are some projects I made with the kit for my Barista assignments:

















Cosmo Cricket "Earth Love:"


Bo Bunny "Flutter Butter:"


Pebbles Inc "Lil Miss:"



Crate Paper "Seasons:"
To be posted at a later date!