Watercolor Garden

Happy Tuesday Peeps!
Someone graciously reminded me that there are only 8 more school days till Christmas break...I did not believe it so I looked. Sure enough. YIKES! That's true.

Mallory has discovered a plastic water bottle, Halle is resting as she's had a tough day already chasing the juvenile terrier, and as I look out my windows at the gray blanket that has placed itself upon our area, I decided I could either sit here and be BLAH or I could tackle today's Holidays in Hand page. Some days I just don't feel like much is exciting to share. But, the reflections aspect of the project seems to always give some kind of focus.

Today's prompts were:
Write about the significance of at least one of your items of holiday decor.
Photograph a holiday related item you inherited (I chose to use all 5 spots for photos)
Remember: In what places do you remember feeling warm, welcome, and loved during the holidays?
The following are blanks for me to fill in as I wish.
Do: get that laundry folded (hmmm...so far. No.)
Make: a birthday card for one of my upcoming recipients.

I also need to get a Christmas card and little hostess type idea together for a gathering coming up the week of Christmas. Sort of one of those mature type things, ya know? If I can wade through the drama that is Tiger Woods right now (ugh, what a dumb dumb boy), there's gobs and gobs of ideas out there. I want simple elegance...

All elements again are Jessica Sprague. Blessings that you may find sunshine somewhere through the grayness....its there. I promise.

Sunday was a rest day for sure. We were all so tired from the overnight travels. I did some tidying up around the house and caught up on Friday and Saturday's pages, then played a bit doing some non Christmas stuff.


Today we had a snow delay of 2 hours for all of half an inch of snow. Don't even ask. I've been ranting about it all day. Spent the day reading, drinking coffee, and doing laundry, and watching the snow melt. I got Christmas cards ready to send out, but didn't make it to the post office.

Wouldn't want to overdo things, what with the blizzard and all....(insert sarcasm here.)

Blessings for a wonderful week!

I needed some spring in my day yesterday...so....

I tried a clear card. I've been wanting to try this so I was feeling inspired so I did it.

Clear acetate from my The Scrapbook Tree locally.
Pattern paper is DCWV
Stamps: SU frolicking frogs, unfrogettable, and The Stamps of Life Back2Basics
Misc yellow cardstock, brown memento ink, copics, green staz on.

I totally went off topic on Saturday's page. But, it was worth it. Second page layout is from Ali Edwards.

Friday's focus was on sentimental Christmas decoration. I chose my Christoper Radko Patriotic Heart. We also went to Santa Claus, Indiana for an overnight get away.

All elements are Jessica Sprague, and the template I used for the second page is from Ali Edwards.

Hello! Hope your Thursday was warmer than mine! Brrr....I went for a jog this morning and it was 33 degrees! I'm not ready for this cold stuff yet!!!

Today's Prompts:
Write what the word 'Joy' means to you and does it play a part at the holidays.
Photograph what represents 'Joy' to me.
The Do line is just not speaking to me...I DO stuff every day, just different stuff, and its not always photo worthy. My DO today was DO GET THAT RUN IN...so I did.
The Make prompt consists of getting Andrea the rest of what she needed to finish her gingerbread village project.

I have failed to credit the artists used in my layouts. All the base digital elements are from Jessica Sprague. Some are from her Holidays in Hand Class supplies, and the rest are from Jessica's Winter Breeze Kit from her website. Unless specified, each day this is the same.

Additionally today I used a JOY digital brush/stamp from The Stamps of Life.
The images for Andrea's village are from D.A.I.S.I.E.

(typo in journaling fixed in final version)

Today's Holidays in Hand prompt was to read THIS article and write our thoughts. The whole article was a big "ahhh-haa" moment. I encourage you to click on it and read it for yourself.

The photography theme was to take a photo or photos of 'something warm'. Today EVERYTHING was cold and rainy so the obvious warmer uppers were my morning coffee, my sunroom/craft room heater, and the visual warmth of the glow of the tree against our golden color paint.

The Do section was a bit blank as its just a blah Wednesday complete with a grocery trip postponed from yesterday...whoohoo! Walmart at the beginning of the month...oye.

The default Make prompt line is this daily page, but I also messed with color a bit and managed to eliminate all gray in my hair...at least for the next few weeks.

Today's remember thought was whether I remember making any specific recipe with an older family member and what was that experience like. We traveled at Christmas nearly all the time so much of the prep for the meal was done by family members ahead of our arrival. I do have vivid memories of oceans of special cookies at Grandma's.

I think Andrea's special memory will be of us rushing over to her Grandma's some late December afternoon to help spoon divinity...its a drop everything and get yourself there fast kind of thing.

Welcome to December! You may remember last year I did a December Daily Album inspired by Ali Edwards. While getting this year's December Daily pre-assembled some time ago Ali told us about a class with Jessica Sprague. The class was free and called Holidays in Hand.

Of course I signed up for it because I'd heard Jessica Sprague is an excellent teacher and it was a free chance to try out one of her classes. The class was held the week before Thanksgiving and gave us an easy to follow list of prompts for photography, journaling, and memory preservation for each day of December. Each day the prompt has a Make, Do, Remember, and a Write section. Jessica also provided us with digital templates and digital papers and embellishments to get us going.

One of my goals this winter was to get more comfortable with Photoshop Elements so I decided to do all the pages digitally where I prefer to do the December Daily more hybrid (using digital along with cut & paste of actual paper and embellishments) . So, I put away the December Daily for next year and decided to switch gears and focus on Holidays in Hand. They are serving the same purpose, really, and that is to stop and really enjoy the season. Think about what makes the Christmas time so special to us, and to simplify it down to its basic elements and preserve the time without being overwhelming. Here's today's page...you can click on it to get a big huge version if you want to read the journaling.

The crew over at Our Craft Lounge is celebrating their one year anniversary this week. I finally got a chance to take part in a few of the challenges.

I'm trying to get a few Christmas cards made so they can be sent out once it is time.

Thanksgiving is upon us, even though you wouldn't know it. Somehow Fall has become Halloween and Thanksgiving is just sandwiched in between somewhere. I think the fall 'stuff' has been on clearance since November first.

I don't like that, but retail is what retail is. With current economic conditions, retailers NEED us to get in the spirit early. Usually all night standing in line for the hot toy is reserved for Black Friday, but a friend (male friend) of mine did this very thing last night, err, this morning already. I personally would have just spent the extra money, scrimped elsewhere in the budget, bought it on line, had some cheap wine last night and slept in today. Oh, wait....I did all that except buy that motorized rodent. WTH is that anyway???

I admire Thomas for doing what many men wouldn't. Although, if it was really really important, like a $25.00 Nintendo DSi, I think my hubby would do the same...or at least handle things around here while I stood in line. I fear where he would spend the extra time between Midnight and 3 am in a big city, but that's another thing entirely...

Another friend of mine posted a little rant on his Facebook status yesterday about this very topic and waiting until after Thanksgiving to put the lights, trees, decor up etc. I totally agree that Thanksgiving gets lost in the glitz of Christmas. I really like Thanksgiving better because of the family, gratitude, sharing, togetherness aspect, without the pressure of gifts. I swear one year I'm going to decorate fall and leave it up all Christmas just to spite the elves.

Sure, this current weekend is ideal to get some decorating out of the way for Christmas, and I can't blame anyone for doing so. I'm finishing up this weekend myself, but I'm not hosting a Thanksgiving meal here. If I were, no Christmas would be present...(get it..Christmas, present?) I'm ONLY doing the kitchen/dining area and the great room. For me, that's keeping it simple. I bought new greenery this year for the first time in about ten years, and to get what I wanted in the quantity I needed, I had to start. Sometimes the Christmas to do list is easier to handle if there isn't that one big job on it. The decorating is my 'job' (I really enjoy it thought) and I pretty much gladly do it all, so I call the shots on what gets done. And unfortunately, when you live in a small town, a lot of the pretty, classy decorating items are already picked over by now. I don't do no tinsel garland! We ladies do what we gotta do to get it all done and be sane.

Now, I don't doubt that the men in our lives do things to help during this time of year, but truly a lot of the coordinating and magic making falls on the shoulders of the women of the family. Recognize this guys, help out with the stuff that the lady in your life may be pushing aside in favor of other things, and give thanks for it all. Ladies put a lot of pressure on ourselves to make everything perfect because we think its what is expected of us by those we love (YOU!).
My challenge to you all is this:

Once this current weekend is over and your shopping and decorating for next month is done for now, shut the lights off and stop. Stop and focus for just one 5 day period on this special holiday this week.

It has been said that bad things happen in threes. I have witnessed this phenomenon myself, but wish to focus more on the good things that happen in threes or multiples of threes in my life. While I thought it over, I was amazed how much this silly little even, odd, round number makes itself known.

This rambling list of three-bies was compiled today while I was running, uh, 3 miles, which generally takes me 39 minutes, today took 37, and I'm working toward 36 by thanksgiving. Then 33 by Jan 1. I don't think a flat 30 is doable for me, but you never know.

-God is three forms: Father Son Holy Spirit
-Family of three: Andrea, Kent, Myself
-3 Fish in the tank seems to be all we can keep in harmony. The three kill anything else we put in there in about 3 days time.
-3 Bedroom house
-3 vehicles in the garage. one is a model year '99 (3x33)
-3 bicycles in the garage
-3 tshirts I usually wear a lot more than the others
-Daughter is one of 3 grandchildren on each side of my family
-3 Bats in my attic
-3 miles is my favorite distance to walk or run
-15 miles (3x5) is my favorite biking distance
-3 minutes is as long as I care to swim.
-3 major distance accomplishments this year: 13.1 mile Mini Marathon took over 3 hours and something to complete; a 10k (which is 3.1 miles twice!); and 100k (63ish miles) bike ride.
-3 colors dominate my home (green, mustard, red)
-3 hours is about how long I can go without computer access and not feel disconnected from the world
-3 minutes is about how long I can watch 'news' without getting irritated
-3 is the number of items I frequently group together on a wall or table.
-3 windows need new screens
-3 cordless phones
-3 pairs of athletic shoes (2 for running, 1 for biking)
-3 favorite sweatshirts
-3 times I will repeat myself when making a request. Then I get irritated.
-3 shots of espresso in my starbucks beverage.

The list had other things as well, but I can't seem to remember them right now. My 30 minutes of computer time checking my 3 main places I check 9 times per day is now up...33 minutes ago.

There's no point to this post except casual observation of life. What number or multiple of a number seems to dominate your life?

Edited to add:
3 cycles: the number my dryer takes to dry a load of laundry
300: the number of dollars I don't want to spend on a new dryer.

I just LOVE sketch challenges. This is another one of Beate Johns'.

Papers: Gray, Martha Stewart Woodland Christmas. I got a LOT of this on clearance last year so you'll see this paper often during the upcoming season.
Supplies: stitched thread with adhesive (another el cheapo clearance item from Big Lots!) gold ribbon, wax seal.
Stamps: The image on the wax seal was stamped with a snowflake and christmas circle from The Stamps of Life November set called Joy2Christmas. I just received the actual stamps in my hot little hands!! OHHH they are wonderful!!! I've been playing with the digital images as brushes in PSE 8.0 and I love the flexibility with sizing you get with digital, but nothing compares to stamps and ink in hand!!! You CANNOT put a digital image into a hot wax seal and get that result!