Everyone has a story to tell, here's mine sprinkled with some creative projects along the way.
Thank you for stopping by and I hope you come back again.



Wednesday, December 31, 2008

A look back on the year that was.......

today's the last day of 2008 and I can't help but look back at the year that we're saying goodbye to. Was is it all good? all bad?

The answer- definitely filled with stories!!!



I seriously felt blessed this year. I had some goals set up for myself, especially on the scrapbook side of my life, and it was fulfilled. More than I've expected. I'm still working in retail, something that I really didn't see myself being in for this long but things has to happen this way. I have also taken up much love for photography. Something that I'm so happy that it's finally working out for me. I have a couple of photos that is soon to be published. *wink*


Mitch turned the big 4-0 this year. He was able to accomplish a big thing with the scout by leading them to build canoes from scratch and taking those boats down the Colorado River in the summer. He's also found a new hobby in archery.


Amanda graduated High school this year. She successfully finished basic training in the army and will continue her military term in Texas at Fort Jackson.


Marcus stepped up into big kids' school this year. I'm so proud of him and I enjoy watching him take in all that Kindergarten class has to offer. He is really improving in all aspects and levels. Awesome dude!


Maddie was so fascinated with Princesses this year. There was no disney princess that she did not know and wanted a costume of. She too have grown so much. The only thing on the list to check of is....potty training. Like her big brother, she is taking her sweet time. Something that is somewhat frustrating Mommy sometimes.

I enjoyed this year and hope and pray that next year will have more stories to tell and of course to scrapbook!!!

Cheers to the new year!!!

Till next time,
Grace

Calendar ideas

So, pausing on the family posts for right now and showing some calendar ideas that you might like to do.....

I did the first two in January of this year. For more info, check this post.

ONE- POCKETBOOK CALENDAR




TWO- WALL CALENDAR




and this one is a sneak peek of my 09 pocket calendar. I'm teasing you cause I have prepared it for a tutorial on the SocalScrap message board. I'll announce the date of the tutorial soon, but for now here's a peek.....

snow trip

One thing that I've nagged Mitch about this whole season was that we NEEDED to up to see some snow! We finally took our much awaited trip today.

I was so worried that bec. it was getting warm that there won't be anymore snow when we got up there but to my surprise, Wrightwood (in Highway2) was still covered with the pretty white powder. Here's some of my fave pics....



This angled shot was actually taken by Maddie. She wanted to be the photographer too.


We played in the snow, using our big tubes to slide down the hills and make our snow man. Fun stuff!!!




the kids didn't want to leave. Marcus even wanted to take home some snow only to be disappointed that the one that he put in the water canister melted.

It's very seldom I take a picture of this two together.


and finally me, just playing around.


Happy New Year everyone,

Till next time,
Grace

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Christmas has come and gone.....

and here's some pictures to show for it.....

We usually spend Christmas eve at my uncle's house in Glendora but bec. they were out of the country this season, we ended up staying home, something we've never really done before. It was quiet and I LIKED it. No stress. Although I did feel sad that I didn't get to spend it with my relatives.

Mitch came home early from work and so we rented a couple of videos. This is us in the afternoon of Christmas Eve, watching "The journey to the center of the earth", keeping warm with blankets and sweaters plus eating popcorn. What could be better?


then Maddie comes in my room looking like this......

and tells me that this is what a mom looks like! You can't tell but she had a few big bracelets on one arm too. Not for her mom that's for sure! I would never put this ensemble together. LOL.

Then that night we drove by a street in La Palma that had houses decorated with fun and colorful lights. I heard it from a friend at church and was so intrigued by it and when we got there I wasn't disappointed. It was great. The street was a little cul de sac off of the main street. All the houses seemed to have been competing with one another as to who had the best lights cause each of their front yards were litted up with all sorts of decorations and lights. Here's some of my favorite ones....





Then on Christmas day, the kids didn't wait for me to open their gifts hence no pictures of them opening up presents from Santa. They all enjoyed their presents though.

I made these reindeer cupcakes to bring to the Tolman's. I was assigned to bring the "kiddie" dessert.


Grandma Tolman's theme for her gifts this year to all the grandkids were sweaters. I thought that was fun! Here's her with little Maddie


then Marcus got a speed racer gift from one of the cousins. Since there's 24 (or 25 now?) grandkids, each cousin just gets one name to get a gift for. That way parents don't have to break the bank in order to give presents to family and also each kid gets to take home a toy.


My favorite part of the gift exchange is the adults version where in we put our gifts on the table worth $25-30 each, everyone gets a number and we take turns either opening one or stealing a gift from another person. We had a few steals this year, like this one that Mitch got to open but was stolen from him by his brother Paul....


Grandpa Tolman got to open this one up and it was the PERFECT gift for him cause he already has a bathroom in the house all themed with this....


All in all, this season was filled with lots of blessings, family time, great laughs and the reminder of the wonderful gift we've received- the birth of our Savior, Jesus the Christ.

Till next time,
Grace

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Well wadya know.....

we're right on schedule with things around here that I actually have time to update my blog. It's been a long time and it feels good to get back on the "bloggin" world.

I can really say that being overly organized has kept me sane this Holiday season. With the crazy hours at work (I usually don't get home till after midnight) I really thought that I won't have time to do anything but sleep but there's angels around me that are helping me. Sometimes I wonder where I get my energy to go through a 7 am- 2 am days. But then I think that there's dear people that are praying for me and that's why I'm getting through those days. Gotta love the power of prayer.

Anyways, I wanted to share two things with you today....
First is our family's baking tradition. Although I would rather give See's candies to family, friends and neighbors, gone are the days we can afford that so this year we're doing homemade gifts. Two Sundays ago, the kids and I made a bunch of cookies to take to our neighbors and Mitch's home teaching families. We we're making lots of messes but the Chocolate chip cookies with White chocolate, Oatmeal Chocolate chip cookies and Chocolate Crinkle cookies we're all worth it. Each and everyone of them was M M M good!!!


One of my goals this coming year is to be in front of the camera more often. So with this activity, I handed the camera to Mitch and asked him to be our "photographer". He did a great job and took shots of things that I wouldn't been able to, like this one of me putting cookies inside the oven to bake.



I didn't do anything fancy to wrap them up, I just stacked them, covered them up with wax paper and wrapped that in red tissue paper. Finished it all up with some ribbon and viola, our homemade gifts are done.

On Sunday, we handed our last batch of cookies (I froze them so they'd be good for a few weeks). We gave them out with our Christmas cards. Our cards was another thing I started to rethink about. I didn't realize how much stamps would cost for 60 cards. In the past years, we didn't have to eat that cost. So to cut down on this expense, I personally handed the cards to friends and family that was close by.

Another new baking experience this year was making candies. We usually decorate a gingerbread house but when I went to Michael's last week they were all out. Costco was out too. Bummer!!! Then Maddie saw this Wilton's candy decorating kit so we grabbed that instead. The kids took a little while to understand the concept of the candy making but after a few hiccups they were able to do em without sticking their fingers in the chocolate or getting all the chocolate on the floor and on their clothes.



We didn't do bad for our first time, don't you think?


----------------------------------------------------------------------
The second think I wanted to "toot" about was this two issues arriving at my doorstep recently....

A special issue from Memory Maker's magazine. This issue was really good and timely since most of us think about organization in the closing and beginning of the year. They even have a "cosmo mag" type of quiz. It was fun to do and the result surprised me a little. And the best part of this issue for ME.....

is seeing this inside....

Yup my first ever pub with Memory Makers. Still gets me excited thinking about it. Oh and my dear friend Heidi's page was just on the opposite page from mine. How cool is that!!!

And then last night I got another package and this issue from Simple Scrapbooks was in it. It's the Jan/Feb 09 issue.

And on page 90 you will find this page.....

Christmas definitely came early this year for me.

Merry Christmas everyone,
Grace

***sorry the pictures are not even in sizes. I'm having problem uploading pics through blogger so some are from blogger and some are from photobucket.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

through the hustle and bustle.........

If you're one of my avid blog readers, I would like to apologize and give you a heads up. It's the Christmas season and besides being busy with my own Christmas traditions to do, I'm also very swamped with work. Being in the retail industry really can take a lot out of you during this season. I'm sorry. I have a lot of great ideas/projects/stories to share but I'm making the decision to sleep rather than type (laugh out loud). So if you'll bear with me till maybe after Christmas day, I promise I'll fill this blog with so much "stuff" that you'd want to come back everyday. *wink*

But till then, I'm taking a break.......

Happy Holidays,
Grace

Monday, December 1, 2008

Christmas on my mind

Well it's Dec. 1st and that means that the Christmas decorations are going up, I'm going to be seeing lots of houses lit up at night, madness at the malls and stores, lots of parties and unnecessary eating, making homemade Christmas cards and old and new traditions being completed. So in honor of all these great things I wanted to share some Christmas related scrappy stuff....... they're not new, don't have time for that right now but thought some of you would get a little sprinkle of inspiration from them.....

I posted some Christmas related projects last year complete with instructions and here's some of them. Click on the titles for more info.....

Paper Christmas Tree


Paper Wall hanger


Altered post in notes (great for gift giving)


and here's some Christmas themed layouts I did this year....


personalized the ribbons with some stamping.


Isn't she a cutie?!


looking forward to putting all these decorations out again soon.


Christmas won't be complete without a visit with Santa.


A page summarizing our "packed" December.

Thank you for looking and have a great day,
Grace