Capturing The Season

I’m just stopping in before I venture out into the snow. Oh, there’s not a lot of it, not like some will be getting tonight (Poor Edna!) But when it’s not really melting, it’s rough walking! I’d stay in, but tonight is out party and while we’ll stop at the Kroger right next to the restaurant for sodas before we get back for UNO and dessert, we’ve planned a balloon release ceremony for John before dinner for anyone who can get here early, before dark. I really thought about not doing the balloons and rescheduling that, but I really want to do it tonight when we are all together and for Christmas. John loved Christmas. It was one time of year that he could be his generous self and no one tried to advise him against his own nature! He also always thought the balloon ceremonies were very special and he always tried to make a point of being there when we did one for a tribute people or pets. It really is especially fitting that we have one for him. I did all the research and even though the mylar balloons may shrink a bit, they will still float up to heaven when we release them. So, I will venture out into mall insanity to get a Christmas balloon for him.

Other than that errand that I need to do, I’m pretty much ready to go. All the dessert trays are done, the candy assortment mixed and the bowls full. We got the tree up and lights on it, but the ornaments will be after the party but before Christmas. I had a couple of very late nights getting things done and I was tired and cranky this morning and was a bit upset about the cleaning and decorating not being perfect and declared this was the last year I’d do the party. I’m still not happy about it, but it would just kill me not to have it anymore. This really is an important event to me. I’m going to be a little naggier next year about taking time off of poker and scrapping before Thanksgiving to get the cleaning done. Well, I’m gonna try to be a nag anyway!

Week four in Capture the Season has begun. I’ll be taking my photos and recording some quotes tonight for the week 3 layout, so I’m technically not behind in being ahead there. It’s just that my subject for week three didn’t happen until week three was over. That happens sometimes with scrapping in the now!

What I do have to share is finally week two! Here are the instructions for week two:

Assignment # 2: The How

The use of evergreen trees, boughs and wreaths around Christmas has its roots in ancient festivals celebrating the return of the sun at the Winter Solstice, affirming the ongoing cycle of life. These meanings and symbols have evolved through history as cultures have interpreted them in connection with their own traditions and beliefs. Use images of your home’s holiday décor to explore the personal meaning of traditions in your family.

My week two is not so much the things you see that transform our home into a holiday home, but the things you smell and as result, feel. It’s a little bit introspective, but I think it’s a good bit of introspect to document too!

Here is the layout I did for Capture the Season, Week 2.

Home for the Holidays

Credits – Deck the Halls by Skrapper Digitals,
November Template by MamaBee, Word art by Bele15,
Christmas alpha by NorthernStarCa

When we think about decorating the house for Christmas, the first things that come to mind are the lights, the tree, the wreaths and garland, the things we see with our eyes. But holiday tradition and the things that create Christmas in our homes often affect more than one of the senses in creating vibrant memories. The journaling was very important to explain how a 36-year-old double boiler is such an important part of the holiday transformation in our home!

Attitude is everything and if you look for it, you can always find the peace you need, for me, even in a dented old pot or a messy house. No matter what, it’s the holidays and the smiles of Christmas past hold us up in the bustle of Christmas present to create the memories that will warm us in Christmases future.

Okay, break time is over. I MUST suck it up and venture out with the crazies at the shopping center for my balloons!

Photoblog Wednesday

The Smell of Home for the Holidays!

This is part of the notes and photos I‘ve collected for week 2 of Capture the Season. I’m hoping to get the layout done this week and you’ll understand how Krisp Kringles are a big part of traditional “decorating” for me!

Holiday Scrapping Cheer and a Freebie!

Merry Christmas in Italian
From It’s Christmas All Over The World by Digitalegacies Designs
Available at Discount Digi Designs

Now I’m getting to the point of balancing my ambitious plan to continue doing a layout a day during Christmas Crunch Time and taking the valuable tips from Capture the Season to heart! I have a ton of notes for this week’s layout for Capture the Season, which is focusing on the changes you make in your home to prepare for the holidays. We have our new tree, but we haven’t put it up yet, so I don’t have the photos I planned to take! Also, my journaling notes are NOT about the tree. They are about a different annual change in our home that hit me when I was making the Davinities. So, I believe there are two major things that change our home into a Christmas home and that will probably be a two-pager in the Christmas part of my scrapbook for 2009. I’m still going to work on that when I get a chance, but since the tree won’t be up until just after week three starts, I won’t have it done early! But stay tuned! I do still plan to get it done “in the now” and I’ll share it when it it’s complete!

When David got in last night I asked, “Poker?” That means I asked him if it was an online poker night for him, which Wednesdays often are. The great thing about that is that while he plays poker, I do the Speed Scrap at Designs in Digital. I was very busy with baking and gift stuff yesterday and hadn’t done my layout for the day yet. Speed Scraps are a great opportunity to fulfill that commitment! So last night I did a Christmas Day page from last year.

Credits: Under The Mistletoe by Gone Scrappin’ Designs,
Holiday Sugar Cookie Blog Train contributions from AliSarah Designs
and Litabells Designs and Gingerbread Christmas by Desertgirl Designs

Christmas is usually a combination of a trip east to celebrate with David’s family, a trip north to celebrate with my family and a quiet day for just us on Christmas Day. That was especially nice last year since we got married two days before Christmas. David worked the night shift on the day we got married and there were last minute stops and dinner with my family on Christmas Eve. It was especially nice to have some time for a nice dinner at home n the good plates and wine out of Mom’s crystal. It’s going to be two pages. The dinner page and another with the tree and gift time, but I need to wait until we u the tree up this year. We got a first married Christmas ornament when we were in Connecticut last year, before we were married, so it had to be kept a secret! It’s a frame ornament and I slipped one of the photos I picked up on Christmas Eve into it, the one the judge took of us at the courthouse. I could have sworn I took pictures of that ornament on the tree. I really thought I did, but, there are no pictures of the ornament in my Christmas file! Things were a little involved last year, but in a really good way!

There will be one more Speed Scrap before Christmas. There won’t be one on the 23, because everyone figures to be busy with Christmas prep. David and I are making plans to celebrate our first wedding anniversary, so I don’t think I’d make that one anyway!

There is a great bloghop scheduled for this weekend with the SAS designers! Like last year, they are doing Christmas song inspired mini kits, which were awesome last year, so be on the lookout! If you haven’t stopped at Veelana’s blog lately, why not? She’s giving away gifts from her advent calendar that coordinate with her Jultid kit every day. Be sure to check that out!!


While I’m talking about my favorite designers, the ones I‘m so fortunate to create for, remember when I mentioned Darlene’s Dear Santa kit? Well, she sent me the kit to play with! Here is a two-pager I did for UNO and the Fabulous Dessert bar 2007.

Credits: Kit – Dear Santa by Darlene Haughin,
Blocks template by Digitalegacies Designs

We had a good turnout in 2007 because Christmas Eve was Monday, so we had an additional three nieces from out of town. There were lots of pictures, many that only differed slightly, but I wanted to make sure I got all of the people in the layout, so I created the blocked templates and with the help of some of the elements in Dear Santa placed over and under them, it gave a nice 3D look!

That brings us to the Freebie!! I said before that when I was selling, my templates were definitely my best sellers. I love working with templates too and often make a template as I’m designing my pages. This was one of those times. I made the template first and then tweaked it as I needed to fit my photos. I often customize templates a little to suit my photos and journaling, but boy, what time savers they are to get you started!

On the Blocks template set, I used one color for photos and one for papers. I didn’t even really stick to my own template! Also, on these ones, I left the grids on them; just turn them back on in the PSD file. With the grids, you can resize any of the bocks to fit your own photos and elements and stay within the placement and sizing of the blocking. Here’s a hint too – you can also copy the grid onto a new document and use it to create your own blocked layouts from scratch!



click preview to go to download page
password – drawfour

I’d love to hear any comments, preferably here since I don’t check the 4shared comments too often, but I do eventually read all the comments you leave! If you use the templates on a layout, I’d love to see them! Send me a link in comments or at thechroniclesofnani.gmail.com.

Now, it’s back to baking, cleaning, decorating and gift-finding!

Holiday Baking Day

Mmm... Fresh out of the oven Mr. Goodcookies!

This is officially holiday baking Day 1. It’s break time after finishing the Mr. Goodcookies. I’ll have some soup for lunch and then go on to start the first batch of brownies. This year, in addition to the Davinities staples, Krisp Kringles and Mr. Goodcookies, the sweet theme is Brownie Madness! There will be four different gourmet brownies. I bake in segments so everything is fresh when presented. I give or serve Davinities in three places. UNO and the Fabulous Dessert Bar, which is the Saturday before Christmas and for two family gatherings, one in Michigan and one in Connecticut. I’ll bake the same Davinities twice and then I do a pair of Crostadas twice. I’ve been taking some pictures along the way too!

The greatest thing I’m getting for the Capture the Season assignments is remembering to take pictures of the little things, the steps in between. I have a digital camera. It’s not like I’m wasting film! A long time ago, I read in the Mensa magazine the greatest tip for taking fantastic vacation pics– shoot like there’s no film and don’t be afraid to throw away the runners up. That was the hardest part for me. I have a strange, almost ancient Native American, feeling about pictures of people. It’s almost like throwing the person away! Thanks to digital, I can use the best photos, throw them all on a CD, date it and store it. You never know when you’ll want to resurrect those memorable goofy-faced photos that you didn’t use in the scrapbook or when a major physical change will warrant fishing out those less flattering photos for a stellar before and after. Think about weight-loss or gain, the braces/glasses that flared from the flash or too long hair unkempt and in a face would even be a good one to use after a new coif. So throwing all the photos whether or not I use them on a storage CD works for me. I can usually fit a full year of taking tons of pictures on a storage formatted DVD. I also pay a LOT less for all those shots, take more and get better “keepers!”

So, here is the result of shopping for holiday baking:

And here are some of the fruits!

I got a knock on the door while I was making the Mr. Goodcookies. It was a knock and then gone before I could put they tray I’d just taken out of the oven down. That’s the way deliveries are made, especially at this time of the year! UPS knocks so you come to the door if you’re home, but the package is left on the doorstep. Today was the first of my online treasures to arrive this year. I won’t go into details because, as my friend, Edna noted on her blog, you never know who is reading!

I love cyber-shopping! My knee and back walking problems notwithstanding, it beats battling traffic and crowds in the stores, hoping to find what you seek from the bin of picked over merchandise. From the special gift I could only find in Virginia a couple of years ago to gift cards from stores they don’t have at Giant Eagle, the world is my Mall and I can bake or scrap while I shop! I was reading a customer review for the item that came in today and was a bit confused at one comment. The commenter said it was a great item, but one he would NOT buy online because he bought one in the store and most of the ones they had were scratched and one was even broken. That was certainly enough to tell me it was something I’d ONLY buy online. Direct from the warehouse to me with no one else looking through all of them and scratching them up. I took this out of the box and it’s perfect, no scratches! I have a little more I’m planning to add to it, but I can’t wait to give it!

Taste of the season!

I know if David reads this, he’ll comment to me that it’s ALWAYS pumpkin season for me. Not true! Pumpkin is a fall through about the middle to end of January. That’s about when the stock of seasonal stuff I’ve collected dries up, but it’s special because it’s NOT always pumpkin season! There are just some things that are especially good when they have that seasonal tag on them. After groceries yesterday, I had my McEggnog Shake. I may have another one, but I really have to have just one to feel official about it. The McDonald’s Eggnog shakes aren’t like pumpkin spice coffee, but I sure like them! Eggnog is one of those flavors that is really a just for a couple weeks flavor craving. I do like the real thing, but an eggnog FLAVORED shake has far less cholesterol than that yummy concoction that I don’t want to see made!

Okay, now it’s brownie time! I’ll check in a bit later.

Holiday Crunch Time Has Officially Begun

I turned in my last assignments this morning and my semester is complete. Now, I am a couple weeks of school behind on my Christmas stuff. Yikes! But I’ll manage.

The biggest crunch of everything is cleaning the house up and getting it ready. The kitchen counters will get a good scrub, but I’m not going to do the grout with the DT this year. That’s too time consuming and hard enough on the back without rushing it! So, no dead toothbrush scrubbing tiny circles in between the 1950’s design tile counter this year. That will make up some time!

We haven’t seen snow yet. I’m okay with that! This afternoon was an odd weather thing for me. I heard the rain. It was just a few windy pelts on the window, so I pulled up the shade. It was raining right next to us, but not on us. I looked out the front at our street and I could see the line where the street was getting wet, then it stopped. That was pretty cool!

The neighbors across the street and next door have some great lights up already and that prompted David to say that he might want to throw some lights on our bushes. I’m not die-hard on the outdoor lighting because where our tree sits, you can see the lights from the street and I spend as little time outside in the winter as I can, so I don’t see the outside of our house much at this time of year. But I totally enjoy the neighbor across the street’s lights from our living room, so I think it would be nice to return the spirit.

We want to get a new tree this year. We had one of those prelighted ones, but a huge chunk is burned out and we filled it in last year with a string of lights. It was more wires than ornaments I think! We do still have that tree just in case. I’d rather use it again than not have a tree if we don’t get a new one. But I’m definitely going to add getting a tree to our schedule. Maybe we can do that when we get our ornament for 2009.

I have baking and one meal to plan. I’ve been picking up a few of the sweets I serve at UNO and the Fabulous Dessert Bar, but I haven’t heard back from anyone yet, so I’ll be sending out the second email tonight or tomorrow with the RSVP request.

Did you see the picture at the top of the blog? Pumpkin Spice Almondina! Almondina are delicious cookies that I enjoy munching for a quick snack when I’m multitasking. I don’t have to cook or prepare them and they are low in calories too. 4 of the thin cookies are only 120 calories. They’re also great dipped in my coffee. They’re kinda pricey, but SO worth it! I hadn’t seen the pumpkin spice ones before, almonds and pumpkin seeds with fall spies, oh my! I found them when I was getting a prosciutto end for Pop. MY Italian store deeply discounts the ends while HIS charges full price. So I’m his supplier. Sofo is on the way, sorta, to his place, so I called ahead and asked them to hold the end they had for me. Good thing I called too. The guy right in front of me in line asked about the ends and they said they sold the last one already. That was to me, on the phone! Pop asked how much he owed me for it and I told him I just wanted some of the minestrone…and a day to spend cooking with him to learn how to make it!

One of the other things I’m working on is my Wife 1500 plan for January. Now, my wedding outfit still fits, but it’s not loose like I wanted it to be. My anniversary is three weeks from yesterday! The past few months have been hard on me and food was the last thing I was thinking about. For me, that’s key for controlling what I eat and losing weight. I have to think about food all the time. Sounds a little different, huh? But I need to think about what I’m eating and plan what I’m going to eat all the time. That keeps me planning and eating good tasting food in proportions and variety that are good for me. If I don’t think about food, I pop things in my mouth and don’t even realize I’m doing it. That’s how I am an emotional eater. When my mind is obsessed with something else, I don’t think about doing what’s right for me. For the Holidays this year, I am going to concentrate on food during the week and plan what I’m going to eat the day before and let myself relax on the weekends. I find that I can’t totally relax from the food obsession on the weekends once I’m in the swing of it and that’s good too!

Capture the Season

I wanted to share a layout I wasn’t supposed to have done. When I asked in comments about Capture the Season at Simple Scrapper about the template and if it was a tool or if we had to use it, I got a reply that it was a tool and the program itself was a tool to gather things to scrap in January. Hmmm…. In January, I’ll still be scrapping 2007. I try to do a layout a day in my catching up plan. I wanted to do Capture the Season to document some of this year while it is still happening. That’s ultimately my goal, to catch up and be able to scrap in the now, while the memories are still fresh and complete. So, I’m going to bend the rules a little. Can you imagine? Me? Bend the rules?? Perish the thought!

Stop by Simple Scrapper and join in for Capture the Season. The tips for collecting your thoughts to scrap when you have time are great for any time of year and wonderful if you want to collect thoughts and supplies for a wonderful crafting day in January too. But I’m doing the assignments in real time and sharing my layouts with you to encourage you to check out the great tips they have. Maybe you’ll find that keeping up with the program is more than you want to do while you are doing other holiday things, but give it a read anyway. You might find a few things that will make your scrapping easier and better moving forward!

So, here’s the assignment for week one from the site.

“The cornucopia is an ancient symbol of abundance and is a common image around the time of Thanksgiving. Share what is in your personal cornucopia basket this year with at least 4 photos of what is important in your life. Use a list format to detail all the goodness that fills your life with joy and love.”

Keep in mind the actual rules are to collect things to work on them in January. For me it keeps me motivated for my holiday planning and work, to take some time out to scrap the small stuff so I don’t sweat the small stuff. I just enjoy all the small stuff in a big way!

Here’s my first layout made with parts of the Pumpkin Pie Spice blog train from last year. Yes, I guess I do love anything pumpkin. Hmm….

Credits: Pumpkin Pie Spice blog train kits

from Eden Lane Designs and SPinkD

Be sure to check out Capture the Season at Simple Scrapper!

Links

Almondina

Simple Scrapper