Christmas Cards

I already have my pre-made, Snapfish.com Christmas cards stuffed and ready to go. All I need are the stamps. But, I spent today making a bunch of Christmas cards for the elderly. The Campus Ministry office at my job is going to help make Christmas brighter for some folks in our community and I wanted to make sure I contributed a little something. I was on a roll and no two cards are alike, even though my original intention was to make a collection of cards. It was fun and highly therapeutic.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving has come and gone and the big Christmas Season has begun. Well, actually, it began right after Halloween since I saw homes already decorated and Christmas sales already in stores. My pumpkins are still gracing the front yard, along with the hay bale and scarecrows...at least for one more night.

But back to Thanksgiving. This year I spent it away from my parents, probably the first time ever. My family and I hit the road to Alexandria, VA to visit my girl, her husband and their new baby. Unlike the rest of the country, we left on Thanksgiving morning, which was the best thing we did. I also thought leaving Saturday at noon was a good idea. Not so much. Better than leaving Sunday? Yes, but there was still a lot of traffic on Saturday. It took us 6 hours to get home.

So what am I thankful for? It's been a challenging few months for me, but I still have a lot to be thankful for. I have a great husband and adorable kid. My parents love me. I have great friends. I have a job, a roof over my head and food on the table. Too much food on the table this weekend perhaps! Thank you to Norma, Clif and Giselle for opening their home to us.

As usual, I got a ton of photos to share.

Somerset Publications

I have to say I really love browsing the Somerset Series of publications. They are so artistic and beautiful to look at. They make me feel nostalgic for some simpler place and time that I have never known, yet the work pulls in digital art. It's nostalgic meets modern media.

I took a walk over to the Park Slope Barnes and Noble yesterday and it was hopping in there. 7th Avenue in Brooklyn is such a cool, family-oriented neighborhood. Coffee shops, pastry shops, bookstores and independent toy stores and boutiques line the streets and make shopping at the local mall seem so boring and un-chic. I have to say I am not yet used to living in Brooklyn, even though it's been 3 years, but it's little walks like the one on 7th Avenue that endears me to the largest of the 5 boroughs - slowly but surely.

A cupcake truck outside Barnes and Noble. Who needs Mr. Softee?

King of cupcakes bakery on 7th Avenue, Brooklyn. It's been open 3 weeks and their red velvet and pear dulce de leche cupcakes are to die for. Check out that King Cupcake - $34.99 and it supposedly feeds 30. I don't know about that. It's big, but not that big!

  

The finishing touches

I finally completed my December Daily and now I can't wait to get started. I used a number pack from Elle's Studio that I was hoarding from last year. I love how my book turned out.

I'm "signing up" for Ali Edwards' December Daily project

November is half over and our plans for Thanksgiving are all set. Now it's time to start thinking about the last month of the year. My son is old enough to enjoy all that this city has to offer - the tree at Rockefeller Center; the Train Show at the Botanical Garden; and maybe even a Christmas movie at the theater. All of this just fuels my crafting fire. What better way to record December 2010 than by Ali Edwards' December Daily? I've already created my journal and just have to do some finishing touches.  But overall, it's ready and so am I.

Front Cover

A couple of the inside pages

Fall Continues to Be BUSY

I love my blog but I continue to be uber busy at work, that by the time I get home, the idea of getting on the computer is not even an option. Who knows what inspired me today? I also took a short break from scrapping. I was part of Lain Ehmann's Layout a Day and yes I did 31 layouts in 31 days. Actually a little more. There was a day or two in there where I actually got 2 or 3 layouts done in one day. So LOAD 10/10 was really great. It let me explore story telling techniques and it let me scrap about me too, which I rarely do.

On another note, I saw 2 homes today in 2 totally different neighborhoods (Bronx and Brooklyn), that were already fully decorated for Christmas. Thanksgiving is not even a glimmer in our eyes. I am so not ready.

Here are some more of my LOAD creations.

This two page layout is one of my favorites. I love the way these photos came out and he was genuinely into his blow up guitar.