Gettin' By

From my family to yours.....

I know I haven't been around here much lately, but the blog has been neglected over the holidays so my family wouldn't be. We've had a wonderful holiday season filled with fun, family, friends and food...I couldn't ask for anything better!

As 2013 winds to a close, I wanted to share our holiday greetings with you! I didn't actually get these cards mailed out until December 26 (and that was only thanks to a helpful husband who addressed, stuffed, and stamped them all) but despite the fact that the wishes are bit belated, we're sending lots of happy holiday wishes out to all of you!

 

 

Thanks to all of you wonderful readers for sharing, listening, and generally being awesome over the past year. Happy New Year!

 

Give-It-Away Thursday | Fa La La La La

Sorry for the radio silence on the blog this week! I've been otherwise occupied with freelance work, Two Peas video prepping, a volleyball tournament, teacher gifts, and good lord the endless, endless gift wrapping. The good news is that my shopping is done. The bad news is that I should finish the wrapping about, um, March??

Luckily I've got a good sugar buzz to keep me going. Tuesday night, the kids and I spent the evening whipping out six dozen truffles and we'll be delivering them to various teachers, neighbors and friends today. Which should curtail my oh-so-nutritious habit of eating truffles for breakfast.

Recipes: Cake Batter Truffles; Peanut Butter Pretzel Truffles

So before I plummet into the inevitable hypoglycemic crash, I wanted to pop on today and share a new layout, and a little Christmas giveaway!

S U P P L I E S :

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This was my favorite creation from the December JBS Mercantile kits. I went big and bold with the title and loved how it turned out. The script font is KG Hard Candy and the block font is Jadefedga. 

The wooden stars in this month's Mini Album Kit are delicious (though admittedly not as tasty as truffles.) They are a deep, dark brown and come in a variety of sizes. And I kinda adore them.

I also adore this little confetti pocket on the front of the December bingo card. I stitched a small scrap of vellum over the numbers and filled it with sequins and hole punches before finishing the stitched border.

 

Today I've got a small collection of holiday cheer up for grabs!  It includes two stamps -  Elle's Studio Noel Cheer Stamps and the JBS Mercantile exclusive Santa stamp - as well as some 3x4 holiday cards:

 

 

If you'd like to be entered to win this set, just leave me a comment today telling me your favorite holiday treat to eat! I'll pick a winner on Sunday, December 22 and post it here.

And have a festively fabulous Thursday!

 

Simple Saturday | Grateful

I'm spending this weekend on a quick ski getaway in the mountains with the kiddos, conveniently ignoring the fact that I have piles of work and gargantuan list of holiday things to accomplish next week. If any of Santa's elves happen to be reading, feel free to stop by our house in my absence and offer some assistance. Uh, unless you're that creepy Elf on the Shelf. Sorry, dude, but you give me the heebie jeebies.

So since I'm spending time with these pretty awesome people I call my family, I thought I'd share I layout today I did in their honor. It's a simple design using new Lily Bee Design products from the We R Family collection:

 

S U P P L I E S :

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I used the small circle stamp with watermark ink to stamp a tone-on-tone background on the thin striped paper. I filled a few of the circles with the names and other icons to reinforce the theme of family.

 

I cut strips from four of the patterned papers (about 2" x 5.5") and stacked them down the middle of the background. At the end of each strip, I mounted a circular photo, matted with a doily that I cut from the b-side of this kraft patterned paper.

 

The word "grateful" was die cut from the font Mission Script. If you want to download it, just follow the link, enter $0 in the Name Your Price box, and bingo - it's yours!

 

Hope you all have an amazing weekend! And if anyone's interested in wrapping a few (or forty) gifts in exchange for a big ass margarita, I'm taking applications via email! (Elf on the Shelf need not apply.)

Give-It-Away Thursday | Basic Grey 25th & Pine

Christmas is sneaking up on me at a much more rapid pace than I'd prefer. Of course, if I had months and months to do the decorating, shopping and baking, I'd probably still wait until the last minute and try to get it all done in full-out panic mode. Of course I would. Because what fun would the holidays be without a few maniacal crazies like myself running around to make all you organized and expeditious people feel superior? (You're welcome.)

So despite the fact that my house is not completely decorated, my shopping is far from done, my cards are not addressed - ok, not even ordered - and the cookies for Santa are not baked (by putting this on the list it makes it look like I actually bake. Lies! I sit on a throne of lies!) I do have a bit of Christmas cheer for the old blog today. Namely in the form of some projects I did with the BasicGrey Christmas line, 25th & Pine.

And pssssst....there's a festive giveaway at the bottom of the post too!

 

S U P P L I E S :

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S U P P L I E S :

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And now for the fun and festive part! I may not have all of my family's wishlists shopped for yet, but I do have a little gift for one of you: a holiday set of BasicGrey embellishments that includes the mixed brads, vintage stamps, wax seals, and chipboard alpha from 25th & Pine.

 

InLinkz.com

If you'd like to be entered to win this set of goodies, just leave me a comment today telling me what you'd do with them! I'll pick a winner on Monday, December 16 and post their name here.

And happy hectic holidays to you!

 

How to Take A Christmas Card Photo.

1. Pick the coldest possible day of the year to shoot. Because it's not fun unless someone gets frostbite.

2. Beg your handy husband to put those power tools to use and make a giant lighted star as a prop (and - BONUS! finally cross one DIY project off your Pinterest board!)

3. Bribe a child to stand in front of said prop while you set up the tripod and get the camera settings dialed in.

 

4.  Take lots and lots and lots of shots. Expect that most of them will be unusable, because at least one family member will have their eyes shut...

 

...or it will be completely out of focus....

 

....or the timer will go off at random intervals when no one is prepared.

 

5. After at least one family member has shed tears, threatened divorce, or been grounded for the rest of 2013, upload all your photos and send up a quick prayer to the photo gods that at least one will be decent enough to use on your Christmas cards.

6.  Have a drink! (And get those cards ordered - it's December 10th, for pete's sake!)

 

Scrapbook & Cards Today | Winter 2013

It's here, it's here! I'm so excited for the new issue of Scrapbook & Cards Today because it's the first time I've contributed to the magazine as an official member of the SCT team! I consider myself beyond lucky to be working with such an amazing group of women. The winter issue is packed full of pages, projects and cards that feature their talents and I've got some fun giveaways to celebrate that!

There's more than 216 ideas in this edition, including: 

    • Holiday pages that sparkle, shimmer & shine
    • Double Up - Great ideas for two-page layouts
    • Reflective layouts with Ali Edwards
    • As Time Goes By - Scrapbooking milestones
 

...and a reader’s gallery that is full of stunning inspiration!

 

 

Here's a little sneak of my project in the 3T's Double the Memories article. I got to use the new American Crafts holiday line, Peppermint Express and it's a fun, colorful collection that's so easy to work with!

 

 

Another new resource from SCT is also now shipping - the 2014 Scrapbooking Planner and Sketch Calendar, This 14-month, 64-page planner is coil bound, brimming with 30 page sketches, how-to photo techniques and layouts created by your favorite designers. Each month features a full page of journaling prompts, page starters, photo ideas and areas to jot down notes, memories and special moments, perfect for those who are following Project Life.

Today I'm giving away a copy of the SCT winter issue AND a 2014 planner to one lucky reader. If you'd like to be entered to win, just leave me a comment below telling me what's on your scrap table right now!  I'll draw a winner on Monday, December 9 and post it below!

Hope your weekend is fabulous!

 

Congrats to Jill, who is the lucky winner of the SCT winter issue and 2014 planner!  Yay Jill!

 

Giving Thanks.

Thanksgiving is probably my most favorite day of the entire year and I might be just a little bit sad that my beloved Thursday has come and gone and now the world is in full-blown Christmas mode.  Not that I don't love Christmas, too, but dang if it doesn't try to creep in earlier and earlier and every year. I want to savor my full week of Thanksgiving, thankyouverymuch. It's bad enough Black Friday steals one day, but Brown Thursday? Really??! This day already has a name, people! And it's THANKSGIVING.

So before the holiday frenzy really sets in and I start freaking out about the countdown to Christmas, I thought I'd spend today reliving last week and sharing some photos from our Thanksgiving. Want to join me in happy thoughts about food, family, and friends?

We kicked off the day with a Turkey Trot, where my brother-in-law Ben completed his first 10K in a very respectable time (Go Ben!), and I posed in front of questionably respectable port-o-potties. With a successful calorie burn under our belts, we headed home to prepare the feast!

There was a welcome sign and feathered friends (compliments of the kiddos) to greet our guests:

There were centerpieces of alstroemeria and button mums that Riely helped me arrange in old copper pieces my parents collected during their time in Turkey. We set the tables with my grandmother's china and pewter goblets and I taught Riely how to correctly arrange the fork-knife-spoon. So if I fail in all other areas as a mother, at least the girl will be able to set a proper table.

 

As we counted down the minutes 'til the bird was done, there was lively and laughter-filled conversation, thanks in part to plenty of prosecco and egg nog martinis. Martinis which may have contained more alcohol than we originally realized. Here's your handy PSA for the day:  Always read the fancy scripty font on your egg nog labels. Especially if it says "contains bourbon, brandy and rum."

 

There was a cute guy in a purple sweater to carve the turkey (and a mother-in-law to oversee it.)

There were big plates for little girls to load up on turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, sweet taters, rolls, cranberry sauce and GRAVY!

 

There were animated displays of pretentious goblet-sipping by a certain bowtie bedecked boy.

 

There was a sweet grey-muzzled lady who, against all odds, lived to see yet another Thanksgiving and celebrated by happily cleaning up turkey scraps.

 

There was catching up and filling up. Long overdue hugs and toasts. Remembering past holidays and planning for future celebrations.

 

Lastly, there was the chaotic clamor in an attempt to get a family photo before our gathering ended. But we were successful! There are so many things that I give thanks for, but getting to celebrate amongst this group is definitely one of the best.

 

Wardrobe Wednesday | Shiny & Bright

This past Sunday was the first fabulous day of December and that, really, is reason enough to break out the shiny pants and celebrate. The girly and I were also going to the Nutcracker that afternoon, which, of course, made my pants a bit more appropriate than if it just been a typical Sunday around Casa Dickinson. Because consuming large amounts of coffee on the couch really doesn't require fancy pants.

But when I saw these patterned pants at H&M, I knew I needed them for December. Mostly because they remind me of this pair from J. Crew, but at a fraction of the cost. Which leaves plenty of room in the budget for egg nog, another staple for the month of December.

So there's my fashion advice for the day:  Save on shiny pants. Spend on egg nog.

Happy December!

 

P.S.  I just noticed that the last picture looks like I'm giving a crusty look to my alternate self. Apparently someone needs an egg nog refill.

 

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Old Navy Poplin Stretch Dress Shirt
H & M Suit Pants (not available online) | similar
Merona Skinny Belt in Cobalt
Charming Charlie necklace | similar
Isaac Mizrahi for Target heels | similar
Burberry sunnies
vintage beaded clutch

 

 

Jenni Bowlin Mercantile | December 2013 Kits

I hope you are enjoying a lovely post-Thanksgiving weekend filled with family, football, and yummy leftovers (which may very well be my favorite part of this holiday!). I opted to skip the Black Friday frenzy, sleep in, and SCRAP! Mostly because I had the oh-so-festive JBS Mercantile kit on my table, ready and willing to inspire me.  Kits are on sale today and they always go fast this time of year, so hop over to JBS Mercantile and grab yours if you haven't yet!

 

S U P P L I E S :

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One of the exclusive papers in this month's Papercrafting Kit is this bubble background I designed. I kept the rest of the page elements pretty simple - die cutting some of the stars (the star is a Kit Cut and comes free with purchase!) and mixing in a few of the Studio Calico shapes and October Afternoon chalkboard words. A bunch of wavy stitching adds some whimsy and keeps all the little pieces attached!

Today Riely and I are kicking off December with a trip to downtown to see The Nutcracker. It's always a magical performance and I can't think of a better way to wrap up this weekend!

Happy December, my friends!

P.S.  The Two Peas Garden is all new today, blooming with lots of holiday ideas, so be sure to check it out, too!