It's been a month?!?!?!

Aaack!  Where did the time go?

I made 4 layouts w/ the GB December kits:

And we celebrated Miss Q's first Christmas!!!

Yes, we opened presents in Q's room under the pink tree while sitting on the pink rug.  Pink is popular in these parts ;)  I made our tags for our gifts and think they are adorable!  Created using GB December kits/Snap papers.

So that's a super quick update...I have so much to do, I have only finished my December daily up to day 5!  It's time to focus....

On another quick note, I took inspiration from the Amazing Ali Edwards and decided to choose One Little Word for 2013.  Mine is NURTURE: to cherish; to embrace and watch something or someone grow....there's better definitions but I thought it was a perfect choice for me and where I am right now.  I need to nurture my relationships (husband/friends/family), as well as nurture my creativity and myself.  And the #1 is Miss Q.  I want to raise a healthy, kind and loving daughter.

Just Keep Moving

I was able to complete a mini album with the Gossamer Blue November kit, and I have to say I learned a few hard lessons.

1)  Don't glue the mini book into the album cover until you've completed it.
2)  Do a smidge more research on binding mini album's before the next.
3)  Mister Huey's smudges.

That being said, I still think it's a super cute mini and I know my Dad will love it!

Cover

Inside cover and page 1

 I also finished my title page for my DD:

 I have officially completed days 1-21 in my DD, and will get pics and upload very soon!  I had a fairly successful weekend scrapping, but feel I'll never get done what I set out to do...you know how it is, you get hung up on a page and before you know it a couple hours have passed.  I'll just keep plugging along.

A Little Sadness

We got some very sad news about my little nephew last week.  He was diagnosed with ALL Leukemia.  This little guy is only 4, and it made me terribly sad for my niece, his mama.  I have a huge family, with nieces and a nephew only a few years younger than me, and many great nieces and nephews.  Regardless of the number of us, and the distance that separates us, the deep hurt is still there.  Please keep my little nephew, Jase, in your thoughts and prayers.

On a happier note, we spent Thanksgiving with my Dad and one of my sister's + her family.  The food was fabulous, thanks to Dad's lady friend (I'm sure Dad helped!), and it was quite the time for Miss Q! She gets lots of love from her cousins.

On Tuesday I got a new 'do!

And this past Monday we made a trip to do a bit of shopping with my sister.

If you can't tell, I'm a bit obsessed with the light filters on #picfx!

I'm going to try and finish up my foundation pages for my DD this weekend.  I have a few birthday cards to get together as well, so hopefully Miss Q is ready for some Daddy time!!!   Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and are getting prepared for Christmas.

Mission: Completed

Soooo.....I knocked out another two GB layouts and actually started a mini book for my Dad.  How about a little looky-loo at the layouts?

I've challenged myself to complete and upload four layouts from each month's kit to Flickr.  GB will give you an album after uploading four layouts/month for 6 months, and who can refuse a free album?  Awesome deal, if you ask me.  Which is why I {heart} GB.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

She tries, she really does.

I've been trying oh-so-hard to get some time in my creative space, but failing miserably.  I have been able to get another layout completed with the Gossamer Blue November Kit, and a little work on my December Daily.  Here's what I've managed so far....

Happiness is Home Sweet Home

This is totally scraplifted from Nichol Magouirk.  She does fantastic stamping and layering on her layouts, and is one of my scrap hero's.

My December Daily is a work in progress, and probably will be until I have pictures and stories to actually put in the album.  I've completed days 1-5.

I apologize for the awful glare, I took the pictures late last night in my craft room.  Florescent lights do not make for good pictures, especially ones already in the album sleeves!  

So that's my quick update for today.  Busy weekend ahead with another college basketball game and on Monday Miss Q and I will be going shopping with one of my sister's.  Can't wait!  I'll leave you with this....

Miss Q, gettin' busy.

Hello World!

It's Tuesday.

Time, time, time.

Where does the time go?  It seemed like it was Thursday just yesterday...and I was looking forward to the weekend.  And we're already back to Monday.  Oy.

On Saturday we attended our first college basketball game of the season.  My husband and I have been season ticket holders the last 5 years and were anxious to see how Miss Q would do at her very first b-ball game.

Miss Q, not so impressed

Needless to say, hubby was super stoked.  Miss Q was great, not a fuss out of her even though it was incredibly noisy!  Here she is sitting with our seat neighbor, Shirley:

We then had supper with my sister and brother-in-law.  That's when Miss Q fell apart, but even still she was such a good girl, despite the busy day.

I had a little time to work on my Gossamer Blue December Daily and will post some pics in the next day or so.  I also busted out a layout with the November Main Kit from GB.

You Made Us.  There's a glare on the vellum envelope I cut down, but I wrote a quick journal note, folded it in half and used the Glitz Designs letter stickers to put Read Me on the note.  There's a bit of confetti punched from the striped paper inside the envelope.  I can't get enough of the vellum envelopes!  Love that GB uses them to package embellishments.

So, that's my weekend.  Time continues to get away from me and I just need to sit down and focus on my DD.  Homework was posted on the GB forum to upload days 1-5 so my goal is to work on that hopefully this afternoon.

Decisions, decisions.

Hello World!

It's election day and while I know who I am voting for in the Big Election, I've still got a few local decisions to ponder before heading to the polls.  What helps you decide in your local elections?  Are you party loyal, or personally know some of the candidates?  I live in a city of around 20,000 and don't know the candidates personally, but I don't necessarily remain party loyal based on my voter registration.  Decisions, decisions....and I am extremely grateful that I live in a country where I CAN DECIDE!

After watching Karen's video for the Gossamer Blue December Daily class, I am faced with a few more decisions on where to begin this fun project, and what will work best for me.  My little Miss Q is 8 months this Wednesday, so I don't have a ton of free time and absolutely cannot take my eyes off of her because she rolls her way to all the no-no's and begins to dismantle anything those tiny fingers can grab on to, and fast!  So I need to decide what will work for me.  Do I try to set up a base pattern for my book with the page protectors and colors (following Karen's approach)?  Do I just jump in and see where this book takes me?  My initial thoughts are to figure out which protectors I really want to use, and then let the rest flow organically.  I hope to at least choose my protectors today while Q is playing, and then this evening I can go through all the amazing papers from the Gossamer Blue kit.

Another decision I need to make is regarding a few Christmas gifts.  I hope to make a small December Memories book for my mother-in-law, but time is a major issue.  How many of you craft your Christmas gifts?  How early do you get started?

Oh Sunday, Sunday

I had huge dreams for lots of scrapping today, which quickly fell apart when my daughter decided hanging with Daddy just wasn't on her agenda today.  But I was able to make a few cards for upcoming birthdays...

This card scraplifted from the DCWV blog, made from Studio Calico October kits.  Sentiment stamp from Paper Smooches, background stamp is Studio Calico and small sentiment stamp is Papertrey Ink.

Look familiar?  :-)  A thank you card for my sister, Michell

Another Studio Calico October kit card, for my nephew's upcoming 18th birthday.  Green letter stickers are from October Afternoon.

The paper (stripes/blue flower) is from Studio Calico October kits,  the embellishments are Crate Paper, with letter stickers from October Afternoon.

So, I hope to make it back into my scrap room and knock out at least one layout before heading to bed.  There have been some amazing layouts on the Crate Paper blog that I am dying to scraplift!  I finished "Pigs in Heaven" last night and started "Animal Dreams."  I {heart} you, Barbara Kingsolver!

A Quick Pic

Have to share this dolly in her new owl stocking cap:

Miss Q, Queen of the House

Ok, it's time.

Time to get this thing going.  And stick with it.  And to not give up after three blog entries.  And to stop starting all my sentences with And.

I created these four beauties with the Gossamer Blue October kits:

This Is Us, photo taken by Tracy Perrett

Mama's Girl, Instragram pics printed by Printstagram

Tattoo Kisses, Instagram pic

Nobody Puts Baby In A Basket, photos taken by Tracy Perrett

Let's get things straight right off the bat....I use my phone to take my pictures, so these layouts were photographed with my iPhone 5 and cropped.  I have a camera, but no camera cord to plug said camera into my little Mac, so pretty much every photo I post will have been taken with my phone.  That's just the way it is.  And yes, I am an avid, crazy scrapbooking gal, who scrapbooks pics from her phone.  Which I think is a good point to make on this first post....you can be an avid, crazy scrapbooking gal who doesn't own a fancy camera!  Yes, you want good pics on your pages, but I truly believe that pictures from your point and shoot or PHONE will work just fine.

The next four layouts were created with the Gossamer Blue September kit:

While I'm married to one of the smartest, most computer savvy geeks on the planet, I am still feeling my way through some computer stuff, so I apologize if things are a little wonky-looking for a while.  I promise I'll get better.  Off to eat a few Reese's mini's, kiss my baby girl and finish reading "Pigs In Heaven."  Barbara Kingsolver makes my day.  I'll be back soon with some Studio Calico layouts and a few cards for upcoming family birthdays.  Leave a comment if you like my style ;-)