living artfully

welcoming 2010

It's that time when we are reflecting on the past year and dreaming up plans for the next. Truly, one of the great highlights for me was the support and encouragement from all you lovely readers. You've made blogging a joy and I can't offer enough thanks for the inspiration and motivation you've given me. I look forward to continuing to visit your blogs in 2010!

 

For our little family, the highlight of the year was definitely our pug, Rocco. He's been with us now for just over 4 months; he's completely settled in and makes us laugh every day. The layout above is the 2009 recap layout I shared with my family and tells of a few more highlights from this year. My sisters-in-law are both scrapbookers, so we exchange recap layouts at Christmas to place in family albums. The design is simple because I make 5 copies, to include myself and the moms too, but of course it's the words and photos that really matter.

After making this layout, I'm completely in a 2010 mindframe. I am so excited about the possibilities for next year, all the things I want to learn and try. I'm not big on the idea of setting resolutions (the connotation of failed and broken resolutions, in particular). But I do have a few intentions for 2010...

Photography: complete a Project 365 with an "every day life" focus and post to Flickr

Photo-editing: Learn Photoshop Elements 8.0

Reading: read at least 1 novel per month and continue reading off the Booker Prize list

Online learning: complete Design Your Life and Library of Memories (and implement an organization and storage process for our digital and print photos)... maybe other classes, too!

Scrapbooking: participate in challenges and page calls at Studio Calico, Scrapbook Trends, Ella Publishing, Project 12, and Scrapbooks Etc.

Blogging: continue learning about Typepad... I made a few updates for the new year, but would like to figure out more about how to customize and use CSS.


If you are reflecting on the new year and are looking for a good source of ideas and inspiration, please check out Lee's blog: Embrace Life. Her writing and ideas really helped me to wrap my arms around my 2010 thoughts!

Are you set on your 2010 goals and resolutions??

  

yesterday and today share

Ali's Yesterday and Today course at BigPictureScrapbooking has come to its end and I am feeling so very thankful for the journey. I had a lot of "aha moments" along the way about what kind of layouts I want to make and how to connect the past with the present. I'm excited to be going into the new year with a new mind frame about how to spend my creative time.

I haven't yet completed 2 of the assignments for Yesterday and Today: weeks 9 and 11. Week 9 asks us to document a "day in the life," so I'm choosing to wait until after the holidays (especially considering I made a December Daily this year). And I'm currently working on week 11, which is a week of documenting ourselves with daily photos.

If Yesterday and Today was ever offered again, it's a class I would whole-heartedly recommend. Here are my layouts from the second half of class, when we transitioned to "today"...

 
Yesterday and Today: Week 7

 
Yesterday and Today: Week 8 - front


Yesterday and Today: Week 8 - back

 
Yesterday and Today: Week 10


Yesterday and Today: Week 12 

This class has been so great, I think it's fueled a new obsession for online scrapbooking classes. Previously, the only instructor-led course I had taken online was Candace Stringham's Oh Shoot! photography class... so nothing related to creating layouts / scrapbooking. Now that I've tried out Y&T, I'm hooked!  I'm all signed up for Cathy Zielske's Design Your Life, which starts on Thursday, and Stacy Julian's Library of Memories, which starts in February. I'm a bit worried that I've lost my mind, taking two workshops that overlap for five weeks. But really, I'm very excited!

Are you signed up for any online scrapbooking classes? Got any recommendations on what else to check out?

our finished december daily

We were blessed with a very merry Christmas this year and I hope you can all say the same of your holiday celebrations! We ate way too much, laughed lots, and completely enjoyed watching everyone open their gifts. My sweet husband and our families were so generous and I now have lots of fun new scrappy things to play with... which thankfully put me in the mood to finish up our December album.


Day Eighteen: Wish List
Day Nineteen: Attending Jill's Wedding


Day Twenty: Final To-Do List
Day Twenty-One: White Christmas / Holiday Decor


Day Twenty-Two: New Tradition - Baking Stollen
Day Twenty-Three: Favorite Christmas Bible Verses


Day Twenty-Four: Christmas Eve Celebrations


Day Twenty-Five: Christmas Day Celebrations  

Thank you for following along with our December Daily album. And thanks for all the inspiration you've shared by posting your albums, too!

my year in status

 

Are you on Facebook? I saw this on Molly Irwin's blog and think it's so much fun!  There is an application that turns your facebook statuses into a collage you can customize. I'm envisioning a scrapbook layout ;)

Lots to do before Christmas, but I'm still enjoying every moment even though there is less time for crafting and blogging. I hope all your holiday preparations are going well!

another week of december daily

Another week has passed since I last shared some of my December Daily pages. I am still really enjoying the documentation process of this busy and festive month. This feels like a whole different experience than creating our December album last year and I think the two biggest reasons for this are:

1) the larger format: with my 8x8 album this year, I feel like there's room for plenty of photos and journaling
2) my approach to be okay with getting behind on creating the pages: I'm not stressing myself out or adding extra pressure. Instead, I've decided to be guilt-free about keeping up with the photos and then sitting down every few days to assemble the pages.

So I'm definitely having fun and am loving the simplicity of our album...

Day Nine: First Snowstorm


Day Ten: The Importance of our Holiday Tree
Day Eleven: Favorite Holiday Movies


Day Twelve: Anniversary Weekend


Day Thirteen: Holiday Activities / Ice-Skating
Day Fourteen: Counting Down to Christmas


Day Fifteen: Our 2nd Wedding Anniversary


Day Sixteen: Annual Girls Holiday Dinner 


Day Seventeen: Giving Tree / The Importance of Goodwill 

Can you believe it? Just one more week until Christmas is here! How are you doing on your December albums and holiday prep?

happy anniversary

Hey cute husband,
Happy 2nd Anniversary! You know how I love blogging, so I had to leave you a special message here!

Thank you for an amazing anniversary weekend! Cocktails and dinner were so yummy on Saturday. And I had a blast ice skating with you on Sunday, holding hands and trying not to fall. The little cake you ordered from our wedding cake artist was amazing, even though you dropped it upside-down onto the stove before we had a piece ;)

Thank you for letting me spend a crazy amount of time working on crafty projects and coming up with even more projects. Thank you for all the times you've made us dinner and cleaned the entire house so I could try and catch up on the hundreds of blogs in my Google Reader (must cut back!) or finish a lesson for one of the many scrapbooking classes I've taken. And of course, thank you for being a willing participant all the times I've asked you to journal for a scrapbook page! I think you're the sweetest husband to help me spend more time on the hobbies that make me happy!

Love you, babes! Happy Anniversary!

noel banner

I hope you are enjoying the 12*12*12 Holiday Blog Hop! Can you believe all the lovely projects and recipes?! I am dying to try the brownie recipe Melissa just posted. And the good news is that the fun is not over yet! Now that you've had some sweets, it's time for another project... 

 
 
If you are looking to add a little festivity to your space, a banner is something you can easily put together with your favorite scrapbooking supplies that you have on hand! Just choose a holiday sentiment and create banner "bases" for as many letters as are in your word. Then embellish, string all the bases together, and hang. 

For my noel banner, I used a banner set from Jenni Bowlin. But if you don't have a set, you could simply cut triangles from cardboard packaging (like the sheets at the back of packs of paper) or adhere a few sheets of cardstock together to create a thicker base. And if you like the papers in this banner, it's Basic Grey's new holiday line: Eskimo Kisses.

One of my favorite parts of creating this noel banner was putting together tissue flowers. I was going for a shabby chic look, so I think these tissue flowers are perfectly imperfect for holding the letters. To create your own:

1. Start by gathering tissue, cardstock, adhesive and something to cut a small circle with. I used the same tissue you'd use for stuffing a gift bag.

 2. Take two sheets of tissue, one on top of the other, and cut so it's about 12 inches high. The width will depend on the number of letters in your banner. Mine is 7.5 inches wide.

3. Cut your tissue into strips that are about 1.5 inches wide. I cut a few more than I needed, just in case!

4. Take each "2-ply" strip and crumple for texture.

 

5. Then un-crumple and fold strip into a very rough accordion fold.

6. Place adhesive on a small cardstock circle; mine is about 1.5 inches. Then take one end of the strip and set onto the circle.

7. Work your way around the circle, setting the folded tissue onto the cardstock. For extra texture, put a bit of adhesive between the two layers of tissue and pinch extra folds into the top layer.




Banners are such a fun and affordable way to bring a little more holiday cheer into your home. They'd also make good gifts or even cubicle decorations!

Did you work up an appetite?!  Good!  Because in just a short while, at 6pm CST, Carrie at Through the Camera Lens will be sharing something you won't want to miss!

And once the 12 hours of holiday fun are over today, I'd love for you to stop back and share your thoughts! Happy Holidays!

cranberry bliss bars

Can you smell something baking? It's the third project in the 12*12*12 Holiday Blog Hop! Hopefully you've already enjoyed the projects in the last two hours from my talented friends, Laura and Melissa. Up next you are in for a treat inspired by Starbucks... the Cranberry Bliss Bar.

 

The Cranberry Bliss Bar is a well-loved treat that Starbucks carries only during the holidays, so popular they also sell pans of the bars to take home. If you've purchased one before, you know the appeal... delicious cranberry and white chocolate cake, with just a hint of orange, and topped with cream cheese frosting.

The flavors and colors of this bar are so festive. But who wants to pay Starbucks' prices to share this treat with your friends and family? So here is my knock-off recipe for the Starbucks Cranberry Bliss Bar.

 
cake ingredients
1 cup butter, softened to room temperature
1-1/4 cups light brown sugar, packed
3 eggs
1 teaspoon orange extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 cups flour
3/4 cups dried cranberries, diced
6 ounces white chocolate, cut into chunks

frosting ingredients
8 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar
2 teaspoons orange extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup dried cranberries, diced

icing ingredients
2 ounces white chocolate, melted


1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9x13 pan.
2. In a large bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar.
3. Add eggs, extracts, ginger and salt to bowl and beat together.
4. Slowly add in flour and mix until smooth.
5. Add cranberries and white chocolate, then stir by hand.
6. Pour batter into greased pan and spread evenly.
7. Bake for approximately 30 minutes, until cake turns slightly browned.
8. Remove from oven and let cool for approximately one hour.
9. Make frosting by combining cream cheese, powdered sugar, and extracts with an electric mixer until smooth.
10. Spread frosting onto cooled cake.
11. Sprinkle cake with cranberries.
12. In microwave, melt 2 ounces of white chocolate.
13. Place melted chocolate into small plastic sandwich bag and cut a small hole in the tip of bag.
14. Use as a "piping" bag to drizzle melted chocolate over cake.
15. Allow icing to set, then cut as desired.
16. Enjoy!





To replicate the size and shape of the bars from Starbucks, cut as follows:

Start by cutting your bars in half lengthwise, the long way.
Then quarter cut your bars the short way so that you have 8 rectangular pieces.
Finish by cutting your rectangles on the diagonal. 

 

Mmmm, so yummy! I do hope you give this recipe a try. And in an hour we are bringing you another awesome holiday project, this time from the lovely Carrie at Through the Camera Lens. It's a surprise what she's making, so you'll definitely want to visit her blog in an hour.

Happy Holidays and hope to see you back again for my second project this afternoon for the 12*12*12 Holiday Blog Hop!

the 12*12*12 holiday blog hop

Welcome to the 12*12*12 Holiday Blog Hop! Today is the 12th and we are excited to be bringing you 12 projects over the next 12 hours!

Some lovely and talented blog friends and I have been crafting and baking like crazy. Starting at 9am Central Standard Time, we'll be bringing you a different recipe or crafting idea for 12 hours. You'll have to visit our blogs to see the exact projects, but here is a complete schedule of today's holiday craftiness:

9am: Laura at Cameron Crazy Mom
10am: Mel at Sunlight & Simplicity
11am: Sharyn at Living Artfully
12pm: Carrie at Through The Camera Lens
1pm: Maya at Basement Chronicles
2pm: Julie at Just our Story
3pm: Laura at Cameron Crazy Mom
4pm: Mel at Sunlight & Simplicity
5pm: Sharyn at Living Artfully
6pm: Carrie at Through The Camera Lens
7pm: Maya at Basement Chronicles
8pm: Julie at Just our Story

If you're not in Central Standard Time, we are GMT-6 and here is a time zone converter to help with the schedule. 

Grab a cup of cocoa, get comfy in front of your computer, and get ready to be inspired! We can't wait to show you our holiday recipes and crafts!

hi, i'm times new roman

I recognize that not everyone out there loves fonts as much as I do.  But for you like-minded folk, I just took the most fun "what font are you" quiz ever! And apparently I am... 

Times New Roman
Some call you timeless - others call you a snob. Either way, you're a class act all around. Just don't take yourself too seriously.

Oh I do love a good, timeless, serif font! Sounds like me... well, except hopefully you don't think I'm snobby!

Thanks to Rachel for the link (who, by the way, has a supercute blog you should check out). If you take the quiz, I'd love to hear what font you are, too :)