Christmas Planner with Lily Bee and Punky Sprouts!

I'm here with a little Christmas in September for you!

Now, I loved the Christmas Cheer line I received from Lily Bee and decided to create an organizer to get me ahead of the game for Christmas. I took two pages from a Trunk Punky album and cut each of them in half to act as covers and dividers for my organizer.

I covered each page with some of my favorite papers and decorated them with stickers, journaling cards, blossoms, petals, stems and buttons. I kept the tops of the last three pages flat because I knew I was going to be writing on them. The backs of the first three pages and the front cover got to be nice and dimensional though! :)

Finally, I designed a few lists to print out and use as the actual pages in my organizer. One for gifts, one for events and the other two are for decorations and traditions and will go together in the middle section.

 

I cut those into 3 1/2" by 5" pages and filled up my organizer!

I hope this project helps inspire you to get ready for the Christmas season!  It's only 92 days away, you know! Hee!!!

ps~If you'd like a copy of the interior pages I made, shoot me an e-mail at melegs(at)hotmail(dot)com!

Products Used:
Punky Sprouts
Trunk Punky
Parchment Blossoms
Lil' Petals Canvas
Funky Punky Fiber Pack-Canvas
Custom Dyed Buttons
Lily Bee Design
Christmas Cheer Collection Pack
Christmas Cheer Index Journaling Cards
Lindy's Stamp Gang
Starbursts Mist Spray-Rudolph's Nose Red

He's Losing Teeth and Growing Up!

Someone tell me what's going on here!  My little man is becoming a not so little man!  He's only five but he's lost two teeth and has gotten really tall over the summer!  The top of his head is almost to the middle of my upper arm...and I'm 5'9"!  Crazy!!!

 

Anyhoo, here are some storyboards I made for my photography class with Maggie Holmes.  Isn't he cute?  :)

 

I think I'm going to do these for each tooth and then make him a little mini album.  Well, if I can continue to get him to pose for me as he grows!

I've got to admit, this growing up and school everyday thing is a lot harder on me than it is on him.  He loves his school, his teacher and riding the bus.  I miss him when he's gone and I'm so glad that it's only a half day this year.  Next year, he'll be gone all day and Aud will be in preschool three days a week instead of just two!  Yikes!

 

Wish I could talk them into homeschooling!  LOL!

Lunchbox Notes!

On Saturday, Kim Watson taught an online class on the Club Creating Keepsakes website!  I wasn't able to join in right at that time but I did make time for it that evening.  And, oh am I glad I did!

 

The class was on making 12 little lunch notes!  Mickey doesn't take a lunch as his kindergarten is only half day but he does take a snack, so these will be perfect for that! 

 

I used one sheet of MME paper for the bases and then scraps, washi tape, stamps, punches and rubons for the rest. 

 

I stuck with a fairly fallish pallette and I kept them a little more grown up so I can slip one in Andrew's briefcase every once in a while.  :)

 

I punched the arrows in the top right card below out of washi tape!  First I adhered them to some scrap paper and then punched and peeled.  Worked well but make sure you peel it off slowly or the tape will tear.

 

I really love how these turned out and a lot of the gals were talking about how awesome these would be as card fronts or journaling tags or even for Project Life!

 

Have you taken any online classes lately?

 



Backpack Tags

With Mickey starting kindergarten, I've been trying to get us a little more organized.  The first step towards this was to make him some tags for his backpack.  He has one of those backpacks with a million different pockets and I don't want him to have to open each and every one just to find something.  So, backpack tags!

 

 I used the Little Boy line from Echo Park to make these.

 

He has labels for books, papers and his snack.  On the back, I put some car and truck stickers.  I used packing tape to "laminate" the tags and punched holes using my crop-a-dile.

 

 

I tied them on his backpack with some red and white baker's twine.  (The pink tag is his bus info that he has to have for the first few weeks of school.)

 

 

 They turned out to be a hit, Mickey loves them!

 

 

Next up, I'm going to have to figure out some way to keep on top of all the papers they bring in!  Wish me luck!  :)

 

First Days, Good and Bad

 

Ah, first days of school.  Always fun and always different!  Mickey's official first day was today.  It was only for the kids whose last names are in the first half of the alphabet.  This is supposed to help them as it's a smaller class and the teacher can give them more attention. 

 

Well, Mickey wasn't having any of it.  I tried to get him in a bit of a rhythm at school but every choice I made, was the wrong one.  He wasn't supposed to hang up his backpack without checking in it for notes for teacher.  He wasn't supposed to sit at his desk first, he was supposed to go sit on the rug and read.

 

After "doing everything wrong" he was just so upset and didn't want me to leave.  Finally, I had to pull myself away from him physically.  His teacher was literally peeling his fingers off my arm.  And, he was almost screaming for me.  Not an auspicious start to kindergarten. 

 

I'm pretty sure that yesterday didn't help either.  We got to school on time for his Open House only to be told that the well pump at the school had broken and as there was no water, school was cancelled.  We headed home and flagged down the neighbor girl to tell her, when we found out that the kindergartners could come in, drop off supplies and then leave.  Once we get to the classroom, we find out that the teacher is going to do Open House anyway.   With all this yes, no, maybe so stuff, Mickey was a little thrown.  I was totally not expecting any of that because he did so well at his preschool with first days.

 

Fortunately, he did calm down really quickly once I left.  The teacher had the school counselor call my cell to let me know that which was really kind of her.  When Aud and I picked him up, he was right as rain and smiling big.  I'm so glad he liked it and I'm hoping his next day (Thursday) will go a lot easier.  It will be his first time riding the bus and he's so excited!  I'm just hoping that excitement lasts once the bus pulls in front of our house.  Fingers crossed!

 

Aud's first day went the way I'd hoped.  We took her to the preschool, she got her name tag, her hands sanitized and off she went.  I had to call her back for a quick pic and a hug and goodbye kiss.  She was just as fine when we came to get her.  In fact, she's so cool with the whole preschool thing that she's trying to talk me into letting her go to kindergarten.  Fortunately, that's not under my control.  ;)

 

All in all, they had fun (even if it took a while) and they are looking forward to going back on Thursday which is the most important thing!

 

Yay for first days!!! (And, yay for them being over!)

A Quick Note!

Check out the latest challenge from Punky Sprouts here!

 

We're gearing up for school here!  Audrey had her preschool open house and Mickey had his back to school night at his new school and found out who his teacher is going to be. 

 

We're also having a garage sale this weekend, and of course, it's sooooooo hot!  I'm notorious for picking the worst weekends, weather wise!  LOL!

 

Finally, a re-edit of that pic of my husband and kiddos.  (I'm learning tons in my photography class!)

 

 

That's it for now!  I'm hoping to get some crafty time in once the garage sale is over and done with and the leftovers are all taken to Goodwill.

 

See you soon!

It's His Turn!

It was Mickey's turn this time to be my photography subject.  I tried to get him to change his shirt but to no avail.  Sigh.  I'm going to have to bribe him next time!  ;)

 

He's an awesome little model, always moving to different poses without me having to suggest any.  Sometimes, I have to ask him to go back because I only got one try at a cute pose!

This one was all his idea.  He even gave me a few super cute, super funny serious model poses that I'll be saving for his older years.  ;)

 

 I think this one is my favorite. 

I'm really glad that I got these photos as he lost his first tooth the very next day!!!

Some Card Sets

At the crop I attended in Seattle, we had a contest and one of the entries was to create sets of three cards that had something in common.  I loved this challenge and created these three sets at the crop.

 

This first set uses My Mind's Eye's Indie Chic line. 

 

This is another My Mind's Eye line and I also used a bunch of washi tape with it.  I was determined to use my washi tape instead of just hoarding it.  I know none of you know that feeling.  ;)

Finally, my last set uses Studio Calico's Hey Day collection.  I accented each of these cards with some twine.  Another product that I have a slight addiction to.  Heh.

I really enjoy challenges like this.  Especially ones that make me use some of my hoarded goodies.

Anyone else have any product addictions?