Gettin' By

Holiday Hangover.

We had a wonderfully laid-back holiday week, that included sleeping in, Thanksgiving preparation, and quality family time. Despite my pre-holiday stressing (not to be confused with the delicious cornbread dressing) the Thanksgiving dinner went off without a hitch, with plenty of starches and nap-inducing dishes...as it should be.  The only thing missing were both sets of grandparents, who got hit with the seasonal sickies and had to miss the big meal. (boo!)

A last-minute trip to Costco on Wednesday (holy crazy crowds!) convinced me that staying home was the only way to celebrate Black Friday.  It's a moment of enlightenment when you realize that your hatred for rabid bargain hunting shoppers outweighs any satisfaction you might derive from a good deal.  So the kids and went to see The Muppets instead. And it was nothing short of spectacular.  I laughed. (Chickens singing CeeLo Green? Yes, please!)  I cried. (Kermie playing banjo to Rainbow Connection...sniff!) But the best part? The mutual love my kids and I now have for these furry, funny creatures. Thank you, Jim Henson, for spanning the generation gap with your loveable puppets.

The rest of the weekend was spent watching some football, putting together jigsaw puzzles, and decorating the Christmas tree.  And the realization, for me, that I had neglected to take very many photos at all. Could be that I was too busy enjoying the moment to document it on film. And that's a good thing, right?

I did snap a few shots on Thursday before the big feast.  There's one of a little girl tea party:

A few of our Thanksgiving tables and centerpieces:

And a quick shot of Mike, playing Which Little Girl Weighs More? with a bicep workout before we chowed down:

(On a side note, please tell Riely to stop growing so fast already. I swear her legs have lengthened a good 4 inches overnight.)

So yesterday was a jolt of reality getting back to the routine.  Luckily I have a frig full of leftovers to help ease the pain.  Nothing like a little pumpkin pie for breakfast to cheer a girl up. Oh yeah.

Jenni Bowlin Studio Blog Hop!

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and stuffed yourselves with lots of good eats in the company of the ones you love! (I know I did!)  Now to get geared up for Cyber Monday, the JBS design team is hosting a blog hop to celebrate some new, exciting things happening at Jenni Bowlin!

1. Jenni is hosting a brand new online class, Home for the Holidays and it will debut this Monday. The highlight of the class is a Home For The Holidays mini album, filled with tons of little details and fun techniques.  Two tiny books reside inside the house interior, waiting to be filled with your favorite photos and memories. The class fee includes the kit as well as a detailed instruction PDF download and video highlighting various techniques.

2. There's a new Flea Market section on the JBS site that will be featuring one-of-a-kind vintage items from Jenni like this flour sack block:

 You won't be able to view the store until midnight (CST) on Sunday, November 27th, but you can get a peek at some of the inventory by visiting the other member's blogs.

3. The December JBS Mercantile kit will be going live on December 1st, and it's packed full of lovely holiday goodness from October Afternoon, My Mind's Eye, and of course, Jenni Bowlin! Here's a sneak of some the contents, including the exclusive stamp and stencil from the main kit and the stencil from the Artisan Add-on:

4.  And now for the best part....A GIVEAWAY!  Leave a comment here to be entered to win a $10 JBS Mercantile gift card PLUS the lesson materials (downloadable pdfs and video) for Jenni's new class, Home for the Holidays (a $7.99 value - kit not included).  Comments will be open until 8:00pm (CST) on Monday, November 28, with the winner posted here shortly thereafter.

You can enter to win at every blog on the hop, so be sure and visit these girls as well:

Doris Sander
Mindy Miller
Leah Farquharson
Briana Johnson
Megan Klauer
Jenni Bowlin
Betsy Sammarco
Jill Sprott
Waleska Neris
Shimelle Laine
Becky Novacek

 

Happy hopping and enjoy your Sunday!

 

UPDATED WITH WINNER:  Congrats to Brandi - I'll email you the details, Brandi! :)

T-minus 48 hours.

You would think that after my mini melt-down about Thanksgiving preparations a week ago that I'd have had the motivation (and time) to accomplish everything I need to be fully prepared for the impending holiday, right? After all, I've had a whole week to get organized and make to-do lists detailing all the tasks I need to accomplish. (Funny that "blogging" is not on that list. Hmmm....)   

Well, the to-do list is far from done, but I have managed to unearth the top of my dining room table (can I get an AMEN?), order a turkey, and pull out a few recipes for the big day.  And to celebrate those milestones, I'm rewarding myself with a little time on Ye Olde Internet. Because rewarding myself by thoroughly scrubbing the toilets in our house just didn't sound like as much fun.

What I would really like to do? Break open my December Jenni Bowlin kit that arrived yesterday! It's perched on my work table, not-so-subtlely begging me to come play.  But I fear that if I did, I'd be sucked into a creative scrapbooking vortex and we'd be ordering BlackJack pizza and swilling beer on Thursday.  And that would be bad, right??

So in an attempt to quell the scrapbook cravings, I'll share a recent page with y'all.  It's from the Lily Bee + Maya Road blog hop last week, and I can't think of two better companies' products to combine on a page:

S U P P L I E S :

And with that, I'm off to tackle the grocery shopping for the Thanksgiving meal, along with all the other professional procrastinators in Boulder County.  Enjoy your Tuesday, alrighty?!?

Invention Convention.

Earlier this week, Hayden was one of several kid presenters at this year's annual Invention Convention. He has spent the past few months brainstorming, designing and creating a prototype of a revolutionary new device called The Furminator:

This handy contraption removes pesky pet hair from clothes, furniture, floors, countertops and just about anywhere else!

(I have no idea why he thought there was a need for this type of invention.  Let it be publicly known that I keep our home impeccably spotless, with nary a stray pet hair to be found.  Ahem.)

Anyway, with some help from Dad on the apparatus' assembly, and some guidance from Mom (and her trusty Silhouette) on the marketing/presentation, this boy introduced his innovative invention to the community.  First, he demonstrated the many capabilities of The Furminator to his fellow students at school, and later that night, he presented the invention at the district-wide convention.

Luckily, we had lots of pet hair to provide for multiple demonstrations! The Furminator was well-received by everyone who saw it, due in large part to the fabulous sales pitch this boy gave. I have no idea where he gets his confidence and finesse in front of large groups of people, but more than once, I found myself busting with pride. :)

And after seeing all the creative inventions presented, I have to say that many of our present-day problems are about to be solved with some very innovative and unique solutions! 

In a completely self-serving pitch, I've suggested Hayden start development on an invention that will remove the calories from my wine and candy corn, but in the meantime, I'll enjoy both on our completely fur-free couch.

Happy Thursday!

 

Hold Up. Wait a Minute.

You're not really going to tell me that today, November 15, is a mere 8 days away from Thanksgiving, are you? That I have a little more than a week to clean up my disaster area of a formal dining room, plan a Thanksgiving feast (and order a turkey - is it too late??), dig out all my favorite recipes, go grocery shopping, finish up my scrappy assignments, establish world peace, vacuum up the copius amounts of pet hair and Golden Grahams that are embedded in the sofa cushions, remove the rotting jack-o-lanterns from the front porch, convince Brad Pitt not to quit the whole acting gig, and find that damn baster/sucker/turkeythingamagig?? 

No, no you are not.  You are going to calmly, rationally, tell me to take a deep breath, make a to-do list, and chill.the.hell.out.  Right???  RIGHT???!???

And then you are going to march yourself over to my house and help me dig out my dining room table, which seems to have been attacked by the most wily and cunning of predators - a wild pack of hungry scrapbook supplies:

Admit it.  You're scared, aren't you?

Though the candlesticks and doilies in the center make it oh-so-inviting, no?

It wil be dangerous mission, no doubt, but I expect you all to report for duty within the hour.  If I'm a little slow to answer the door, it's because I've been buried under an avalanche of dirty laundry. And no, that task is not on the list above. Can I hyperventilate now?

So yeah. It's November 15th. Which, on a totally unrelated note, also happens to be my Dad's birthday. Happy Birthday Daddy!  You know that nice, big bottle of Crown Royale I gave you as a birthday gift?  I could sure use a shot right now.

 

Five On Friday.

Today's Five on Friday is brought to you by the cold winds of winter...and my favorite ways to stay warm when the weather blows in. Here we go!

1.  Kamik Scarlet Snowboot ($119.99).  Growing up in Colorado, I've owned plenty of pairs of boots designed to keep out the snow and frost. But when I left for college in Texas, and moved all over the southwest in the early years of our marriage, somehow my snowboots got lost in the shuffle. We've been back in Colorado for almost 6 years now, and I've yet to buy another pair.  In the moments I've needed them, I've gotten by stealing Mike's or using it as an excellent excuse to be exempted from snow shoveling duties.  But these red beauties might have to change all that!

2.  Sesame Sweet Mittens in Grover ($34.99). One can never have too many mittens stock piled for a Colorado winter, and I'm thinking these need to be at the top of my pile! The bright blue color of my favorite Sesame Street character (with a little pink pom pom for a nose!) is sure to brighten the dreariest of winter days.  And they also come in an Oscar the Grouch version for those days when winter has you grumbling and grouchy!

 

3.  Candied Ginger Body Butter from The Body Shop ($18.00).  Dry winter air means dry winter skin so I always stock up on lotion when the mercury drops.  I've tried countless versions of  body butters and my favorite, hands down, is from the The Body Shop.  This ginger version is lightly scented with the fresh scent of ginger and I adore it.  It's thick, rich, paraben-free and non-greasy.  And right now it's on sale for $12.60....so grab some!

4.  Mineral Fusion Liquid Lip Gloss ($6.99) and The Body Shop Hi-Shine Lip Treatment ($5.00). It's the time of year for chapped lips, which means I'm never more than an arm's length away from my lip balms.  This year my go-to gloss is Mineral Fusion's version in Polished - a clear, non-sticky treatment that works equally well alone or over lipstick.  And when I want to kick it up a notch, I grab The Body SHop's Hi-Shine Treatment (I like the Beige tint) which has added flecks of glitter and a delicious undefinable flavor that's a cross between lime, ginger, and....maybe margarita?  So yes, it's perfect for me!

5. The Great Oregon Wine Company Rascal Pinot Noir ($8.99).  There's no better way to keep in warm in winter than by a roaring fire with a nice pinot.  This is one of my recent faves from the Willamette Valley (which thanks to my fellow wino, Summer, I now can pronounce correctly) and it's perfect with cold-weather staples like baked potato soup, white chili, or lasagna.  A bonus? It also pairs wonderfully with turkey, so stock up for your Thanksgiving meal now. I totally think you'll want a glass to sip on while you cook!

Hope your Friday (and weekend) are warm and wonderful!

 

Give-It-Away Thursday: Antiquarian Kit!

Today I've got another page to share from the November JBS kit, and a sweet little giveaway, too! (stay tuned for that!)  This page was inspired by a challenge I issued at ScrapFest to scraplift one of the JBS design team members.  I chose Jenni herself, inspired by this beautiful page:

My scraplift ended up looking a little bit different, because I used three foam stamps as frames for my photos instead of four, but I tried to mimic the stylish way Jenni combines paint, rub-ons, and feminine accents:

S U P P L I E S :

With the exception of the gold butterfly rub-on, the rest of the goodies on this page came from the November kit.  The classic red and black combo made it one of my favorites, along with the Artisan Add-on (it contains the most amazing alpha stamps ever!) and the Antiquarian Add-On.  Unfortunately I have had no time to play with the Antiquarian kit (it's still sitting unopened on my table) so I'm offering it up to one of you readers.

It contains a wonderfu mix of vintage labels, silver foil leaves, antique packaging, buttons, and more, all of which would be fabulous in a December Daily album.

If you'd like to win this kit, just leave me a comment below telling me who your favorite person to scraplift is (and leave me a link if you're so inclined!).  I'll draw a winner on Monday morning. And my lawyer insists you read the fine print below**.

Have a fantabulous Thursday!

**Please be sure to leave a contact email in your comment if you are not signed in to Typepad.  Comments will remain open until the morning of November 14 (whenever I've consumed enough coffee to function) and the winner will be randomly drawn and announced at the bottom of this post and contacted via email (if possible). Internationals are welcome to enter, but you'll have to pay postage. And that concludes the fine print. :)

 

UPDATED WITH WINNER:  Congrats to Stephanie, winner of the JBS add-on kit!  Shoot me an email and I'll get your goodies out to you!

Every Day of the Week.

Well hello internets and happy Tuesday! Today I'm sharing another page from my November JBS Mercantile kit that uses the fabulous Days of the Week stamps Jenni has just released.  I am in love with these babies! And how perfect would they be for Project Life, A Week in the Life, or a December Daily album?  I'm going to step into my enabler role now and insist that you really need these stamps.

Here's a page where I used them with Versamark ink, outlined with a black pen:

S U P P L I E S :

 

They make a fabulously simple background for my photo strips and with just a few added strips of paper and small butterfly punches, I've got a page complete. I foresee lots of future projects with these stamps...I'm already planning out a two-pager that highlights a week's events, using these as column headers. Stay tuned!

And just in case you have a few moments to cruise around the interwebs, stop by the Lily Bee Design blog - I've got a page posted over there today, too.  Now I'm off to tackle my Tuesday. Hope yours is wonderful!

 

A Halloween Recap.

I didn't have my camera out quite as much as usual for the Halloween weekend, but I did catch a few shots I thought I'd share today.  Suffice it say that when you combine a giant banana, two Super Girls, a puppy dog, Wolverine, a set of twins and a port-o-pottie, you are bound to have fun. 

Here's the evidence:

Hope your holiday was equally fun-filled.  Now let's bring on Thanksgiving!!

Pre-Empted Five on Friday.

{giveaway below is still open!}

I know technically this post should be a Five on Friday, but to be honest, I'm too lazy to find five things to link up for ya'll.  Might be because I've spent the week consuming Halloween candy for breakfast and washing it down with egg nog lattes and sheepishly avoiding any form of physical exertion.  It's a routine that requires much rigor and discipline (and hiding your running shoes so you don't feel guilty every time you walk past them, shoving chocolate in your face), yet it seems to have left me feeling a bit sluggish today. Hmmmm....go figure. Pretty sure I will spend this weekend attempting to jump back on the workout bandwagon and detoxing from sugar.  Wait...beer doesn't have sugar in it, does it??

So due to my lack of pep and vigor, instead of today's usual Five on Friday, I'm gonna share one of my layouts from this month's JBS Mercantile kit. It features Jenni's new Red/Black Extension line and one of my newest faves, a red & gray stripe that I love almost as much as candy (and bonus - it's calorie free!)

S U P P L I E S:

And while I have you here, what do you think of the thumbnail supply lists I've been using? Do you like these or prefer the smaller text with links below the image? I'd love to hear your feedback.  And I will read it while I sit on my hands and try to refrain from raiding my kid's trick or treat bags.

Happy Friday!