hey! i'm doing this thing!

i decided, with some sweet encouragement from sara berry & heidi, to finally jump on the december daily/journal your christmas bandwagon! my original thought was to use two pages from an 8x8 maya road chipboard binder book as my front and back cover, but with just 9 pages done so far i can already tell that it's going to get a little too thick, so i've ordered an 8x8 american crafts modern album. i'm hoping that i'll be able to carefully peel, trim down and transfer this cover onto the new album when it arrives.

day one: manifesto.

my reasons for needing/wanting to finally dive into this album this year.

day two: snow

i took a super cheese ball approach to this one. i made little evidence markers to photograph my mug & hot chocolate with and wrote a formal apology letter for causing our first early snow. thank goodness for that label tulip coffee (turned hot chocolate) ring stamp from forever a go!

day three: roseland's tree lighting

i forwent the prompt on this one and scrapped what we'd done this day. it was special for me because the boy and i went to the event together, instead of my usual meeting him there because he's on duty for the fire department. it was pretty chilly, but fun to see all the kids freak out when santa came!

day four: advent

(i flipped the prompts for days four & five)

i do love my "olive the other reindeer" pop-up advent calendar, but i decided to adapt this day's prompt to get a little crafty therapy down on paper. getting excited about the christmas countdown has been hard this year with the store closing exactly one week before christmas, but this page gave me a chance to get some of those feelings out of my system on paper and think about all the good things that have come from my time at scraptasia.

day five: the perfect christmas

i decided to make this one a real quickie by fine tuning it down to dream holiday decor with some images i had seen fly past in my google reader over the past couple of weeks.

day six: to do list

(i shuffled days six, seven, eight & nine around also)

it was my original intention to list the gifts i still needed to buy up there in that shopping panel at the top left, but the boy is a peeker, so i stuck to generalities. each panel is it's own little section of to do's (shopping, activities & decor) i feel a little on top of this holiday, but there are still a bunch of things to do, even now, on day 15!

day seven: traditions

this is really my first year combining christmases with the boy (last year we had only been dating for a couple of months) and since it's also our first christmas living together it's been really interesting combining our traditions. for this layout i focused on three of my family's traditions that i want to make sure are included in our new, combined version of christmas.

so, that's my first week of december dai;y/journal your christmas, i'm hoping to be totally caught up over the next couple of days, and then i'll be able to post days eight thru fourteen and then make it a weekly thing! i really am enjoying it so far, promise!

a little summer to do list...

have you seen the brand new night owl press stuff yet? so cute! this card is one of their new customizable wood invitations/save the dates! check out their stuff here. anyway, this is just a little mini list of some fun things to do this summer since i've been working on a great big list for the year ahead, but more on that later...

a spring to do list...

... because i officially deem it spring simply because i just can not take any more winter! but first, let's check in on how i did with my autumn check list.

not the worst ever, i was wearing heels more than ever before in the beginning of autumn. i'd say i crossed booking my bristol trip +. perfect fall boots have been attained (even if it did happen in the winter). 3 shows is a pretty poor showing but it's almost to 5 right? i didn't get enough harvest moon for my taste, but it did happen.

and now, on to spring's edition, i'll try to remember to work on this one a little more diligently!

p.s. that first notepad is from boygirlparty and the second is from knock knock. go check out all their awesomeness for all your list needs!

my autumn to do list.

cutest to do list ever thanks to the always adorable boy girl party!

a little seasonally mixed up

so a muse a palooza officially starts today! that means that there is a ton of awesome brand new holiday and christmas stamps at the store, not to mention the hyperventilation inducing 8.5x11 sheets of woodgrain! that also means that i was baking christmas cupcakes like a crazy lady wednesday night, guess that's one of the few hazards of working in a crafty industry! but, it's one i can live with. 

now, and i am aware this is a little backwards from christmas cupcakes, on to my summer to do list! summer has a tendency to get away from me so maybe if i have a list i'll remember to enjoy it (yes, i am aware this is sad)

this summer i want to...

* go to at least one imax movie (most likely this will be harry potter)

* ride a great big upside down loopy roller coaster 

* road trip across a state line, ny & pa don't count!

* join the fancy schmancy gym near work and go 4 days a week

* go camping

* hit a philly roof deck party

* head down the shore for the weekend

* crazy, sweaty dance night (7hundred club, khyber or sal's) with nikki

* tubing down the delaware, i know it's gross but i've never done it!

* not cut my hair, see how long it will get by fall without me losing my mind

* keep up with blogging and uploading crafty stuff to the internet

* plan & book a trip to a different country (trip can happen post summer)

* wear a dress or skirt at least twice a week

* read pride & prejudice and a couple other classics i've missed

* manage to actually go bowling instead of just talking about it

* seek out more photo booths with the original style photo strips

* go to at least 5 shows

* plan a charity crop for the fall

* make a themed mix or two every month

anyone want to help me out with any of these?

really?

a week until christmas? really? i am sooooooo not ready. haha!

i have already;

* baked ginger snaps

* made my christmas cards

* brought all the christmas stuff up from the garage

* put together a really rad final package for my secret santa sister over at scrap in style

* bought what i need for my holiday gifts

* updated my christmas mix (mmmm. sufjan stevens holiday box set)

* hunted down my fave hot chocolate, hershey's goodnight kisses

i am;

* working on christmas gifts for my mom and aunt

* making a really rockin' scrapbook for someone

* writing out and addressing all my christmas cards

* thinking about actually decorating the house

i still have to;

* finish making my christmas gifts

* send out my christmas cards and secret sister package

* actually decorate the house

* decorate the store (i'm going with a general winter theme, so i can keep them up)

* get into the holiday spirit

i am looking forward to;

* putting bright felt snowflakes in the front window at work

* listening to alterna-christmas music while decorating the tree

* wrapping presents (yay for last years old navy robot wrapping paper!)
* drive through christmas light show and hot chocolate with evan

* watching "white christmas"

* teaching my christmas mini at scraptasia

* scrapping more gifts when i get home from work

* the gossip girl christmas episode tommorow

supreme cheese!

so when you are overtired and punchy silly at work by yourself and you go over into the hambly corner and realize that it is a crazy wind tunnel due to the air conditioning and you have your camera with you... this is what happens;



hahahahahahahaha! yeah it's like a scrapper calendar shot ! "look at alllllll that hambly, okay now pout in to the camera", haha. oh lord, at least i make myself laugh.

anyway, here is that lo i was talking about the other day;



i think i'm getting used to the love, elsie.

speaking of which there is going to be a love, elsie booth at cha. first off, hopefully elsie will be there and, second, i wonder if she is releasing new lines, just adding a couple pieces to her current lines or just continuing to promote her current lines. either way i am soooooo scoring some for the store. after i bee line for the hambly booth first thing that is! i can't wait to see what their new release is! i'm in the process of making a little book for all my notes on all the manufacturers and i've already started myself a. "don't forget to pack this" list. and i just got my new business cards the other day and they are really cute. i'll try to post a pic sometime soon. also, i want to be business casual, but with really comfy shoes on while i'm at cha so my mum and i are headed to menlo park mall tommorow after work to check out the sara jessica parker clothing line, bitten, at steve & barry's. apparently it's 500 pieces (tops, dresses, skirts, jeans, shoes, bags & accesories) all under $20 a piece. super psyched on that. plus i want to find something cute to wear to the scrap in style reception!

anyway, work til 5 today, i've been rearranging the whole store again, and then i'm going home to freshen up then heading out to wal mart for cheap giant candy and then going to see transformers at the rave theater with rick, ian and one of rick's friends. i am soooooooo psyched on this. we always have fun movie outings and i never manage to take pictures, i will def try tonight. we go see all the big movies together, 300 in imax, pirates and all that business. can't wait for this movie though, even the indie movie snobs and 80's elitist friends are digging it hardcore! i'll let you know what i think!

spring cleaning...

... i love it! i go on a crazy cleaning spree in all aspects of my life. did the house yesterday, re-did all my etsy listings with fresh green grass as a backgroud and nice natural sunshine as lighting and am working on finishing up all the stuff that has deadlines sometime soon.

here is my entry for the first designer challenge that penny posted on story of my life, we had to use the first soml kit, a picture of ourselves in our younger days and work scallops somewhere in to the lo.



i kinda totally love it. it's a pic that hints to the quasi-comic book nerd that i am today. love it!

also i have to make some new things to put up on my etsy so that i can use my entire etsy site as my application for the art star craft bazaar rather than just a few pictures. if i get accepted i'm going to sell my notecards and i want to make like a billion 3 x 3 accordian envelope albums in different hip themes and advertise them as photobooth picture albums since photostrip pictures cut apart would fit perfect in them.

then, i'm going to finish my design team entry for story of my life, make a binder system to store all my acrylic stamps and do some laundry. i'll post pictures later if i finish the dt lo. : )

spring & summer to do list

* creek walking * camping (before the cicadas come) * shore arcades (skee ball, ddr and photobooths) * memories expo * county fair (funnel cake and cotton candy 'til we puke) * coney island (mermaid parade) * creating keepsakes convention * shad festival * music fest * art star craft bazaar * roadtrip to chicago for summer CHA * great adventure (for my first loopty roller coaster) * south of the border (as in the rest stop extravaganza) * as many ice cream cones as possible * that crazy water park in the poconos * swaps (fun new ones) * tubing down the delaware * many a trip to the flea market and dirt malls of south jersey * get published! * free comic book day * bodies: the exhibition (in nyc)* the camden aquarium (or whatever it's called now) * teach more scrap classes! * the balloon festival * crops, crops, crops!!!