scrapologie

We have a winner (and a rather ungrateful sounding vent, because I know you will listen and understand!)

I used the random number generator here to pick the winner and it chose Number 14.

TamaraTamara

My current job is an executive director of a provincial charitable organization. My dream job is to be a stay at home crafter and be able to make great meals from scratch every day for my dh.

 

Lucky Tamara, please email me at [email protected] with your address and I'll send you some holiday crafting goodies! Congratulations!

I am still trying madly to get Xmas things done. We leave for Nashville on Christmas Eve, but we are having our own little family Christmas Sunday morning since we won't be in our house for Christmas. Though I love being with family, I really am starting to want to celebrate in my own way, at my own home. Of course Alekha was told that Mommy had to make a special request to Santa to come early and that he very graciously accommodated.

Thank you to those of you who have mentioned linking to my blog, I really appreciate it and am happy to share these images with you! These next two images are for Charlene - I am trying to come up with more boy images that aren't so pastel - but that seemed to be the predominant color theme for these era postcards! But hopefully these two here are ones you can use and that will make you smile!

Okay - one final thing I have to say, and I am saying it because I know you all will get me on this, being paper artists. I am probably in the minority - I am probably one of the last few people in my social circle to send actual greeting cards. I mean, real, honest to goodness greeting cards, either handmade or manufactured (and even if they are manufactured greetings that's okay - there are SO many beautiful ones.) And somehow I feel horribly ungrateful saying this -- and I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but I see that photocards (the kind that you can buy in a batch at Walmart or from any photo studio) are overwhelmingly taking place of the charming greetings that people used to send. Not that I don't want the photos, don't get me wrong here. I just want them tucked into an actual greeting card, with lovely graphics. I remember the days as a child when I would just pore over the stack of Christmas greetings that arrived at our home. I would love reading the annual Christmas newsletters or the handwritten sentiments that accompanied it. Mom would even allow us to use some for cut and paste projects. I thought they were just so magical, embossed, foiled, glittered or the really special ones that were handmade. I think too many children nowadays will grow up thinking a Christmas card is a photo with a preprinted greeting on it. And somehow I think that just takes away some of the magic of Christmas, not to mention what it does to the greeting card industry and all the designers whose bread and butter depends largely on Christmas card sales. Okay, off my soapbox. And if you are one who just sends a photo greeting - please know no harm is intended, it's just a personal wish of mine. I felt a little guilty saying that, hopefully it didn't come across sounding ungrateful! Happy weekend - hope you are ahead of where I am -- and able to sit and enjoy the weekend before Christmas and not be running around harried and tired!

Sweater Weather

Apparently I missed a day! Here's an extra image to make up for it. Will be blogging on the run until Friday as I am out of town all day tomorrow for work. Hope the weather isn't too bad where you are. Stay warm and do fun holiday activities if you can!

Holiday Postcard Greeting

Gotta make this quick - enjoy today's image - a pretty pink postcard that you can download and print. You could certainly glue a photo down over the sentiment on the right side of the page, or maybe add a recipe there and print it out, glitter it up, or print it into labels to use as address labels on cards. Have fun with it, and I am so glad to hear you are enjoying the images!

Maman et sa fille (Mother & Daughter)

I love this gorgeous image. There is something so tender in the young mother's expression, it captures perfectly the relationship between mother and daughter. It particularly moves me because Alekha has asked for this doll for Christmas. The world keeps on spinning and moving forward, yet some small things will remain the same and never change, a mother's tender glance, a cherished childhood wish, and the love that is shared between a mother and her child. Thank God for children - their innocence and their love is nothing short of pure and miraculous and they keep us young at heart and focused on seeking all that is true, good and beautiful. Don't forget to give your darling(s) a hug and tell them you love them today, and every day.

Christmas Decor

 

Thank you for playing along on the giveaway! If you haven't signed up yet - feel free to do so (two posts ago) -- the drawing isn't until later this week. So fun hearing what all of you do and what you dream of doing. It's interesting to see that so many of you would love to have a creative business. I'd encourage anyone who has that dream to sit down, write up a business plan, talk to other people who've done what you seek to do and see if you can learn from someone else's mistakes. Hold tight to your dreams.

I love Christmas. The problem is I can never decide on decor. And I have a lot of it. I went through several phases:

• Traditional red/cream (think Carl Larsson - swedish christmas)

• Rich jewel toned Victorian colors - hunter greens, cranberry reds, gold. Lots of paisleys. This was from my early days of married life - a phase that I detest now!

• Victorian Pastels - pinks, mint greens, pale blues and old golds

•  Silver and white - lovely when I bought it but looks kind of boring to me now.

• Aqua and peacock blue (my most recent fave from last year)

• Mossy earthy greens and chocolate brown with gold (from 2006)

• Hot Pink and Purple (don't like these two together alone now, but I love them mixed with some teal/turquoise) and/or orange.

This year I couldn't decide on what to do so I set up different trees (we have one really large one, it's artificial because I freaked out the year I forgot to water the real one for about a week and thought I had created a fire hazard that would burn the house down.)

I ended up doing several different "vignettes" to be able to use all my holiday decor. This hutch and sideboard is a favorite piece of furniture - over ten years old now but I love it. I used my winter banner (snow queen banner) from last year's december project kit and built the rest of the display around that. The stockings will come down after Christmas and maybe the santas, but the rest of the wintry stuff I''ll probably leave up until spring. I'll try and post some of the vignettes every day -- the photo in the new blog header shows another area (the pass through to the kitchen) where I've perched all my sweet little pinocchios and christmas elves and several little sleighs and sleds I've found here and there. (Goodwill is a great source for old Xmas decorations.)

 

 

 

   

 

 

   

Jenni Bowlin December Kit Projects and three vintage images

So sorry that I have been remiss in getting the daily images up. Will try to do better, but I promise if I miss one day I'll make it up with an extra(s) when I finally do get around to posting! Have been busy Christmas shopping, decorating, etc. In between working fulltime and trying to get ready for Xmas - not much time left for blogging the way I'd like to!

If you didn't get a chance to pick up the Jenni Bowlin December Kit - be sure to grab one. This kit is so beautiful -- the neutral colors sets off photos so gorgeously and it's so easy to scrap with. Jenni has a fabulous eye for combining beautiful vintagey papers and this kit is no exception. Here are my DT projects (the gallery went up last night so be sure to check out Michelle, Doris and Rita's layouts too. I didn't see Rita's up yet but I am sure they'll be up soon.

Here's mine:

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jenni made a fabulous 2009 calendar from the accompanying project kit. I made one as well using the project kit contents and the vintage image from the main kit. I only added the vintage button, the red making memories stickers (for 2009) and the gold rimmed Martha Stewart labels on the pages facing the calendar pages. (The idea is that you place a small photo above the label each month and journal something memorable from that month so you have the year in review all in one place at the end of the year).

 

 

 

 

 

And here are the remainder of the images I owe you!

 

Thank you

For purchasing the remainder of the Silver Bells Holiday Kits, they're sold out now! We do still have some Nordic Holiday kits in the store.

Here is today's image, plus an extra one for the day I missed.

 

   

I am busy at work on Jenni Bowlin kit projects and will have some layouts and projects to share in the next day or so. The December kit is stunning. It's a mix of neutrals that evoke such a beautiful result when combined. Can't wait to share that.

girl in fur coat and hat

 

Sorry, I know I owe you an extra vintage pic - will upload two tomorrow. Have been busy packing and shipping kits - expect to ship most tomorrow. Have a great Monday!

Jeune Fille avec Sapin (Young Girl with Fir Tree) and Holiday Kits

Remember the Silver Bells Holiday Kit from last year? I'll be putting that kit on further sale sometime later today. It will sell for $30.00 marked down from the current price of $45.00.  ETA: It's in the store now on sale for $30.00. I have some limited stock on them and just want to clearance them out. Also on sale is the Nordic Holiday Kit (our last scrapologie monthly kit). The savings is substantial on both - they'll be marked down 50% off retail. The Silver Bells kit in particular, is packed and filled with wonderful holiday crafting goodies - like the chipboard house from Crafty Secrets and the Christmas Tree Book from Melissa Frances (that is no longer in production by the way) so don't miss out on this kit if you're interested - once it's gone it's gone. They make great gifts too. All orders placed over the weekend will ship out within 2 business days. Also, if you do end up ordering one and don't get a confirmation from the cart -- the order didn't go through. So please email me and I'll send you a paypal invoice.

Here are the projects I created from the Silver Bells kit last year (I only did two as I was swamped at the time -- but there is tons more you could do with this gorgeous kit:

 

 

Vintage Fir Cutting

   

Off work today, (hurrah!) but with a mile long list of to-dos to tackle! Gotta get Christmas cards sent out. This is the photo we're using in our card this year - Alekha in her snow princess getup from halloween:

 

Then off to finish cleaning, making room for the tree,  bringing up decorations from the basement. Of course I can't actually decorate the tree without the family so that'll have to wait for tonight. Going to make a run for a French Vanilla and then break out the Christmas carols while I play house today!  

And I have some scrappy plans too -- my studio is in dire need of a cleanup and reorg, which I will have to do before I get started on my December Jenni Bowlin kit and more Melissa Frances projects.

Over the weekend, we'll probably take Alekha to Wildlights at the Zoo, finish up Xmas shopping and do some baking for an upcoming cookie exchange at a friend's house. A bit ambitious, isn't it? Will check back in and update you on my progress later.

Thank you for all your sweet comments, it makes me happy to know that you are reading and enjoying the images. Happy Friday!