Christmas Album 2011-Day 4

Today started out slow. Just hanging around the house together. :) Andrew took Audrey to the store with him because he needed some new black pants. Mickey and I stayed in our pj's all morning. Hee!

It was a nice relaxing morning and the kids had a lot of fun with Andrew. It was good because tonight, we dropped Andrew off at the airport for a business trip to Montana. Audrey slept most of the drive up but Mickey didn't and we chatted together. We all kissed Andrew and sent him on his way.

Mickey was a little upset but he didn't let it stop him from wrangling me for dinner in a restaurant. Little stinker. So, after a quick stop at Old Navy to return some stuff (mine) and buy some stuff(Aud) we went to Olive Garden. We talked a bit during dinner about the fun stuff we'd do and how fast the time would fly before Daddy would be back. I suggested we get the house decorated for Christmas before he comes home and Mickey wanted me to run out and get the stuff out of the shop when we got home...in 36 degree weather. Yeah, maybe tomorrow, Little Man.

On the drive home we swung through a local neighborhood and looked at Christmas lights, I even got a few pics in! :)

My favorite part of the day~Seeing my friend Miriam at Old Navy!

Mickey's favorite part of the day~Eating in a restaurant.

Audrey's favorite part of the day~candy! (We got mints at Old Navy)

Holiday Event~Scoping out some Christmas lights!

Oh, and it was cloudy almost all day! By the time the sun did come out, Aud had just finished wrestling with the dog and she was covered in scratches. She was wearing a tutu and leggings and nothing else during this little impromptu WWE and her dress is sleeveless. There's no way I want to edit all those out!

Christmas Album 2011-Day 3

Yesterday was pretty uneventful. I'm still a little sickly and really getting sick of it! ;) I spent most of the day cleaning and crafting. Mickey and Andrew headed out for a wedding in the afternoon and Miss Thing got a much needed bath while they were gone.

My favorite part of yesterday~Making a really cute treat container!

Mickey's favorite part~Going to the wedding with Daddy.

Audrey's favorite part~Bath! She doesn't get a solo bath very often and she loved it!

Holiday Event~Getting the backdrop set up for our Christmas card pictures.

(Almost forgot to add this, Aud got to tear off the link!)

Mini Class: She Even Sleeps Cool

Here's a mini class that I made for the A Walk Down Memory Lane newsletter. :)

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Hi guys, it’s Erica with a mini class on how to create a feminine layout using the fall themed Farmhouse line from Crate Paper! First up, trim out the scalloped edge piece on the back of your Handpicked paper, snip in half and adhere to the top left and bottom right of your layout. I used a sheet of Homemade as the base of my layout.


Now you are going to mat your photo with Sunday Dinner and then Handpicked and adhere that to the center of your layout.

Next adhere the 3-D pink rose sticker to the top of your photo and add your title.

Now unscrew the tops of your mists and flick a few drops of ink randomly on your layout.

Embellish your layout with Farmhouse chipboard, stickers, buttons and brad, a few pearls, a pin and some Maya Road roses cut from ribbon and colored with Copic markers. Your last step is to write your journaling around the edge of your photo mat with a gray pen and you are done! Journaling reads-It's easy to see Audrey is a lot like her dad, coordinated, self-confident and self-assured. Heck, the girl even sleeps cool, kicked back and relaxed, she pretty much rocks! Love you, Aud! Aug 2010

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This was from the November 25th newsletter. If you'd like to sign up for the AWDML newsletters, you can do so here!

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Christmas Album 2011-Day 2

Today was beautiful out! Sunny, with beautiful blue skies. We took Lilly for a walk in the morning before preschool. She hadn't been on her leash in a while and it took her a few minutes to remember how to behave but she did pretty well.

We took Little Man to preschool and then went early to pick him up so one of his teachers could leave early. I love helping out at his preschool and so does Audrey. That girl is going to be thrilled when she finally gets to go to school herself.

After preschool was over, we ran one quick errand in Canby and I debated zipping into Tigard for another but decided against it. I'm (hopefully) on the tail end of this cold and I didn't want to wear myself out today like I did yesterday. :)

This afternoon I got to get some crafting done and work on my Christmas Album! Yay! Once I get pictures ordered, I'll start posting completed pages. :)

My favorite part of today~Helping out at Mickey's preschool.

Audrey's favorite part of today~Probably going to preschool just in time for snack. (She sacked out early tonight on Daddy's lap.)

Mickey's favorite part of today~Going to school and (when I reminded him) playing Madison's Nintendo DS all night.

Andrew's friend Lamont came over with his oldest daughter to watch football and at first Mickey was bummed that Morgan (who's six) didn't come but once Madison showed him how to play that game, it was all over for the evening!

Today's holiday event~Not much Christmassy going on, so I'm going to say that making a little holiday container for the candy I'm going to be giving away was my holiday event. Oh, and Mickey tore off the second link on our Advent chain. Aud wants to do tomorrow's.

See you tomorrow! :)

Lil' Stem/Copic Flower Tutorial!

Here's that tutorial I promised on how to make the cover flower from yesterday's Punky Sprouts album. Enjoy!

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First, gather up the Copic markers you want to use. I chose R81 (Rose Pink), YR12 (Loquat), Y02 (Canary Yellow), YG13 (Chartreuse) and BG53 (Ice Mint).
{My first Copic beauty shot! I feel so cool!}
Take the widest Lil' Stem and color stripes on it using your Copics.

Next, fold your Lil' Stem in half, glueing the raw edges together using fabric glue.

{I use Fabritac!}

Now, snip in between each color stripe.

Go back and make one or two more snips between each original snip depending on how wide your stripes are. I did two on mine.

Now roll up your Lil' Stem...

making sure to adhere the end using fabric glue.

On a scrap of cardstock, squeeze out a large glob of glue, bigger than the base of your flower.

Put your rolled up flower in the middle of the glue...

and then spread out the petals you snipped earlier. The bottom most ones will stick to the excess glue.

After the glue has dried, trim around the edge of your cardstock base and you are done!

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I hope that made sense to you all! If you have any questions, ask away! You can either e-mail me or post it in the comments!

Thanks for stoppin' by!

Christmas Album 2011-Day 1

Today was pretty busy. We ran a ton of errands. Albertson's, Michael's, Tuesday Morning, Costco and Fred Meyer were all on the list. We even had a stop at home in between to drop off some groceries that needed to be in the fridge. I'm busy fighting off the crud and so didn't remember to pack my camera today.

Mickey finally picked out a present for his Daddy and I got a few more goodies for my Christmas Album. I also spent a $20 Albertson's coupon I got for buying $100 in gift cards on Black Friday. I mainly bought white candy coating to make Peppermint Cookie Crunch for neighbor gifts this year! Love that stuff!

I also stocked up on groceries so we don't have to shop for a while. Andrew's got a business trip coming up and I like to tackle home improvement projects while he's gone. This time around I'm either buying some tables on Craig's List or painting cabinets in the kitchen!

My favorite part of today~Costco with the kids. They were so good and we had a really fun time trying all the "snacks".

Mickey's favorite part of today~Getting a toy (a Cars mini coloring book with a few crayons & stickers) at Michael's.

Audrey's favorite part of today~Fred Meyer! She and Mickey got to play in the Playland while I shopped.

(Mickey just piped up that his second favorite part was seeing Colby, a preschool classmate, at the Playland.)

Today's holiday event~Mickey tore off the first link on our Advent chain that we made last night. (I snagged my iPhone for this one!)

So, that's it for today. I'm hoping to feel better tomorrow so the kiddos can go to the gym's Kid Watch. They love it there! It's great motivation for me to go. ;)

Punky Sprouts, The Girl's Paperie and Copic!

For the month of November, the Punky Sprouts team got to play with products from The Girl's Paperie, Authentique and Copic! I've got a really cute Sprocket Sprout mini album decorated with papers and embellishments from the Girl's Paperie and accented with Punky Sprouts embellies and Copic markers.

The cover of this album is decorated with a flower made out of a Lil' Bloom. I'll have a tutorial on how to make it up tomorrow. :)
The inside of the front cover has one of the new Lil' Blooms accented with some glass glitter and topped with a Girl's Paperie star and the right side is a pocket page with some banners made out of Lil' Stems and colored with Copic markers.

The other side is also a pocket page with a folded down edge that was border punched before it was folded down and adhered. The next page is a canvas page that was misted using a cut up paper doily as a mask and then I glued some Girl's Paperie ribbon around the outer edge.

The back side of the canvas page was misted using a damask mask that I moved from place to place and then just sprayed once or twice each time I moved it. I stripped off the top layer of the next sprocket page on the top and bottom, inked it with a cream ink and then added more of the glass glitter. I decorated the middle using Girl's Paperie paper and ribbon.
The back of the sprocket page has a cute photo mat with a punched paper strip accented by a brad. The front side of the envelope is lined with matching paper and punched with a border punch and trimmed with ribbon.

I misted the back side of the envelope using the same damask mask I used on the canvas page (say damask mask five times fast!) and then I created another photo mat on the front of the bracket page.

The back side of the bracket page has a ribbon accented photo mat. I covered the inside back cover with paper and then took a canvas Lil' Petal and a cork Lil' Petal, cut them into four pieces and used them to create a banner. Each canvas piece was colored with a Copic marker. I then ran a line of glue along the top and covered it with more of the glass glitter.

The back of my album is covered with the same paper as the front and left unembellished for durability. :)

I seriously love this album but I'm not sure what pictures I want to use with it yet. I'm thinking maybe pics of myself with the kiddos and then I can keep it in my scrap room. :)

Thanks for stoppin' by!