Merry Christmas!

From our Nest to yours, we wish you a very Merry Christmas!

(digital artwork from Persnickety Prints)

Happy Christmas Eve!

I hope you're enjoying your Christmas Eve.  Through the magic of FaceTime, I got to see snow falling in Pennsylvania.  Here in Georgia, it's rainy and dreary, but even the lousy weather can't stop the Christmas Eve excitement in my house!

I've got a short post for you today.  I'm (finally) going to share my week 2 December Daily pages.  I had every intention of posting last week - and even this weekend - but I got sick and my whole schedule was thrown.  Thankfully, I'm feeling better now, and I'm trying to be a busy little elf and get all the last-minute preparations done for tomorrow.

So, here are the long-overdue pictures from my December Daily album.

I hope you have a wonderful Christmas and New Year's, and I'm looking forward to Crafting together in 2013!

December Got Busier Than Expected

Happy Monday!  I was hoping to share the second week of my December Daily album today, but it is not yet finished.  The past few days have been busy (this month kicked into high gear!), and I'm behind.  I should have the photos up on Thursday though - and I'll be celebrating, because all my grades will be turned in!  (I think I enjoy Christmas break more than my college students.)

I'm off to grab some hot coffee - it is wet and chilly here in south Georgia today.  And don't tell my family, but I'm procrastinating on some chores to spend quality time in my craft room!  :)

December Daily, Week One

Even with a somewhat impromptu trip to Tallahassee this weekend, I got the first week of my December Daily mini-album completed!  I am so proud of myself...now I just need to keep this up for the rest of the month.  :)

I've got lots of pictures to share this week, so this won't be a very wordy post.  I ended up creating two-page spreads for each day (except the first, because I made a "title page" of sorts).  It's been challenging creating with the random-sized papers, but it's a good thing for me to get out of my box.  I have to confess - I'm already thinking about changes I'd like to make for next year -which I think is a good thing.

Now, without further babbling, here is the first week of my December Daily album:

Since the page for Day 6 was a flash card, I had to get creative with the picture.  I ended up making a tab out of the picture, and just mirrored it on the back.

So that's week one for me.

December Daily - The Blank Slate

I bought this album kit a couple years ago on etsy, with every intention of making a December Daily album back then.  Well, life got crazy, and the kit didn't even get opened.  With my recent purge of the scrapbook room, I've rediscovered the album kit and have made it a priority to complete the mini-scrapbook this year.

I wanted something a little eclectic for this album, so the kit I purchased has pages made from scrapbook paper, chipboard, cardboard, felt - you name it.  It's a little funky, but it makes me smile.  :)

I ordered the pages, attached number tags, and now it's waiting for me to add photos, journaling, and some embellishments.  Here are a few peeks of some of the pages in my blank album:

I've hand-picked a few Christmas embellishments to add as I go along:

My goal is to print out the week's pictures each Friday and work on the album over the weekend. 

Merry December!

With three children in the house, the entire month of December is one giant countdown to Christmas!  Today, I'm going to share two ways we measure the days in our home.

First is the drawer box that I fill with Hershey's Kisses.  I made this box 5 or 6 years ago (it's from Making Memories) and it's become a tradition in our house.  As soon as this was unpacked this year, my youngest asked - daily - when we would buy the candy to fill the boxes.  He's very specific about it the candy, too...each box contains one red, one green, and one silver Kiss.  :)

Last year, I made a mini-book countdown calendar for my boys that was inspired by the gals at eighteen25 (you can download the printable numbers through this blog post).  I used a Bazzill chipboard album from my stash (it had 12 pages exactly!). I printed out the numbers, cut them into squares, and then mounted them on some old Basic Grey Christmas papers.  The boys love turning the page each morning (though sometimes two of them will turn a page and we'll magically jump a day closer to Christmas!).

Do you have any Advent calendar traditions in your house?  We also have two Lego Advent calendars going in my house this year...we really like counting down to Christmas.  ;)

P.S.  Tomorrow, I'm going to share my (blank) December Daily album.  I had every intention of posting last week, but I had an unexpected medical issue that really threw a wrench in the works.  All is well now (it's amazing what a difference a few days makes sometimes) and I'm just about back to normal.  :)

Here We Go!

On Monday, I shared how I turned bits and pieces from old kits into a mega-kit.  Since my goal is to use up the new and improved kit that I've created, I'm attempting to scrap one layout a week using things found in that lot of papers and embellishments.  (We'll see how that goes...I'll keep you updated!)

My first layout is based on a couple pictures of my boys wearing their Steelers' thermals:

This page is a bit "grungier" (if that's even a word) than I usually do, but it seemed to fit with the theme.

As a bit of background, my husband and I are both from western Pennsylvania, so we're Pittsburgh Steelers fans.  We transferred to south Georgia in 2008 for my husband's job, and after a year or so of living down here, I stumbled on some Steelers shirts at our local Old Navy.  Of course, I had to buy them for my boys!  ;)

Back to my layout - the Thickers were white fabric, but I took the yellow acrylic paint and colored them:

I also used the paint and some black ink with the roller stamp to create the page border:

In the above picture, you can see that I distressed the edges of the patterned paper and pictures, and painted and inked around the journaling circle.  There's also some polka-dot rub-ons thrown in there...I was totally channelling my inner Christy Tomlinson!  :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Take One, Two, Three...

A few weeks ago, I shared that I was in the process of purging my entirely-too-large scrapbook stash.  I'm happy to report that the purging process is done.  I'm waiting for some priority boxes to arrive in the mail so I can start prepping these goodies for etsy.  Right now, it's sitting in a rather large pile in a small room off our kitchen...my cats think it's a great treasure hunt.  ;)

While I was cleaning though, I went through all my old kit clubs and pulled out the bits and pieces of each that I really liked.  I ended up with a bit of a mega-kit:

I have made it a priority to use this hodge-podge kit that I have created, so I pulled out a couple photos and chose the elements that I felt best coordinated with my pictures.

Tomorrow I'll share the layout that resulted.  :)

Today I was busy attempting to take our Christmas picture (because I am determined to get cards out this year!).  After more takes than I wish to recount, I still don't have a picture for our cards.  To give you an example of what I was working with, here are a couple shots:

I'm just thankful that no one ended up in the lake!  We're planning to take a few more pictures tomorrow.  Hopefully I'll get a winning shot from that batch!

I did get one nice photo just before we headed home: 

(I know my boys love me because they agreed to hold hands for this one!)

How are you spending this Thanksgiving week?  This year, I'm very thankful that we're keeping things small (just my hubby and me and our boys) because it takes a lot of the stress out of the week.  We're taking the whole week off school and the boys and I are going to spend the next couple days crafting and baking and relaxing together - and taking pictures.  ;)

Some Purging Tips

Hi, Nesters!  It's Dawn here, with a quick post for this last Monday in October.  I'm going to share some tips for purging your stash (I've been in the midst of a huge purge lately!). But first, a little background...for the past couple weeks, my children and I have been fighting the yuck that seems to be going around.  We had to cut a mini-vacation short I got so sick (my husband knew it was bad when I was willing to forego a trip to IKEA to come home!).  No sooner did I get better than my boys came down with it, so we've been sniffling and sneezing all over the house!  Once I got better, I went into super-cleaning mode, and my craft room seems to have taken the brunt of my "tidying".

I have a ridiculous amount of scrapbook product, and it was at the point where I was forgetting what I had.  As soon as I started to clean, it seemed like I couldn't stop!  

I'm almost embarrassed to admit this, but I've currently got three 18-gallon storage tubs filled with purged product, and I'm working on a fourth.  Eek.  And I've still got most of my Expedit, all my alpha stickers, and three Cropper Hoppers of paper to go through.  Double eek!  (Remember, I did say it was a ridiculous amount of product.)

Here's a list of a few things I have learned as I've been cleaning out my space:

1. If I haven't used that "must-have" product in the 5 years since I purchased it, the odds are against me using it in the future.
2. Buying in bulk is over-rated; I will never use the 50-pack of sheer journaling spots I bought in 2008.  Note to self: in the future, share the large packs with friends.
3. It is ok to break up kits!  I used to belong to several different kit clubs, and had dozens of kits still in their jumbo-sized ziplock bags.  I went through all the kits and pulled out what I knew I'd use and put the rest in my purge bin.
4. I don't need 3 or 4 (or more!) sheets of the same paper.  No matter how pretty that paper may be.  Really.  For me, there is one exception to this rule: Scenic Route.  Darn it, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't put any Scenic Route in the purge pile.  Don't judge me.  ;)
5. Keep what you like.  What you REALLY like.  If you're feeling so-so about paper or ribbon or stickers or rub-ons (don't even get me started about the rub-ons!), get rid of it.  Don't keep product that you don't like.  Of course, the bigger question here may be why said product was purchased in the first place, but I digress...
6. It's really fun to re-discover "lost gems".  I found paper from 5 years ago that I love (and totally forgot I had!).  Not to mention the kits and wood items that were sitting collecting dust - but are now on my to-do list for Christmas!
7. I can pretty much guarantee that after going through your stash you'll be much more careful what you purchase in the future.  (Even when it's a great deal.)

And now, I need to head back in to my craft room for more cleaning.  :)

Have a great week Nesters!

Paper Pumpkins

With Halloween fast approaching, we've been seeing pumpkins everywhere!  Today, I'm going to share a tutorial for some easy paper pumpkins that my boys and I made together.  

Aren't they cute?  They're super quick too, and very kid-friendly!

What you'll need:

• patterned paper (we used 6x6 paper)
• cardstock for the stem and leaves
• brads (to hold the paper strips together)
• strong adhesive
• a paper trimmer
• a pencil to wrap the cardstock around to make the stem
• small punch or paper piercer
• a leaf punch (optional)
• ink for the stem/leaves (optional)

First, cut the paper into 1" strips.  We used two 6x6 sheets of paper for each pumpkin, which resulted in 12 strips.

With a small punch (we used the 1/8" setting on my crop-a-dile) or a paper piercer, make holes on each end of the strips for the brads.

Stack the strips and secure a brad through one of the holes.

Fan out your strips.

One at a time, curve the strips onto a second brad (the pointed end will be up).  And please excuse my fingernail that desperately needs to be repainted.  ;)

When you're done, the bottom of your pumpkin will look like this:

Cut a small strip of cardstock for the stem (mine were roughly 3.5" by 3/4").  Ink the edges if you wish.  To make the stem, wrap the strip around a pencil and glue the end down to keep the curved shape.

At this point, you could also cut leaves.  We had an abundance of leaves once my boys were done with the punch.  Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures....just picture my living room with little green paper leaves all over the floor.  :)

To finish your pumpkin, simply glue the stem and leaves (if you made them) onto the pumpkin with a strong adhesive.  I used Diamond Glaze, but I think E-6000 would work even better (I didn't want to risk the fumes on my boys though).  A glue gun would also be a good choice.

Super quick and easy!  Since there are five of us in our family, we made a family of five pumpkins.  :)

I hope you enjoyed this little tutorial!  Are you crafting anything for Halloween at your nest?

Oh, the memories!

I've gone digital!  For today, at least.  :)

This week, I've been playing around with their My Memories Suite digital software, and I'd like to share a couple of my creations with you.

I've been creating with the Coast to Coast kit - it is adorable!  Here is a layout I created of my youngest son:

I'm a newbie at these digital pages, so I'm definitely learning as I go.  I did figure out how to add the star from a Persnickety kit onto the page, and I was pretty proud of myself for that one.  :)

I'm also working on an "abc" book of our family.  Here's a page of my middle guy: