We’ve Been A Little Busy!

Whoa!  I have slacked off on blogging but I have continued with my December Daily album.  It is so much fun to work on this project through out the month.

Last week we had a surprise from JG!  He called me last Wednesday at dinner time and told me he was going to try and catch a plane home that night.  Well, he did and we headed to Ramstein early Thursday morning to pick him up! 

I didn’t tell them we were going to pick up JG because I wanted to surprise them and they were beyond excited to see him!  They really, really missed their Daddy this time around and it is so nice to have him home safe and a bit early, too!

The Beginnings of My December Daily Album…

***If you are here following along with the blog hop please scroll down to the next post.***

December has rolled in a bit quicker than I thought it would!  I will admit that while I don’t have all of my December Daily foundation pages complete I am about halfway through the month.  I hope to get the rest squared away this week.

This year I will not be printing my photos daily or even weekly but will wait until the end of the month and place my order through Shutterfly.  I love their print quality and the quick turn around.  Since I will have my pages ready and journaling complete I will just have to add the photos once they arrive.

My photo for December 1st is of the girls opening their Haribo advent calendar.  This year is a little bittersweet as it is our last year here in Germany.  There are some things we will miss and the Haribo calendars have become a tradition for us. 

This was about take 5 and the reindeer antlers were their idea!  I rarely get a photo with them both looking at the camera and this was just not my day.

Here is the foundation page for the photo:

Because I didn’t leave any room for journaling I will be adding a journaler by Ali Edwards that I purchased from Designer Digitals last year.  I like to add these when I am feeling long winded or want some extra space for photos. 

My December 2nd photo is of my favorite mug filled with glühwein in front of the Christmas tree.  I like Christmas tree bokeh! 

And my foundation page for the day is this:

The colors are off a bit in this one as the background is more of a pinkish color.  I am using Crate Papers Peppermint Collection for most of my album this year and I was having a bit of a hard time with it but have come to love the feel of it all.  The snowflakes are from the Peppermint Collection as well.  I had a hard time photographing the first set of pages as it has been super foggy here nearly every day and that means no morning sun for my photos. 

That’s all I have for now.  I hope to continue my December Daily updates every few days.  I always have good intentions of sharing my pages but never get around to doing so but will make a honest effort at posting them  here.

Handmade Holiday Blog Hop

Hello there!  Today I am joining many fabulous ladies who have created a little bit of holiday magic using our paper crafting suppliesto share with you. If you are following along with the blog hop you should have arrived here from Jennifer’s blog.  If you are just checking in on my blog or are a little bit lost and want to start from the beginning of the blog hop, visit Amanda’s blog to get back on track.

I made a small little 4x5 inch canvas board into a small bit of décor.  This is an idea that I originally picked up from the Crap I’ve Made blog.  Here is a quick run down of how I put this together.

You’ll need a canvas or other background of choice, scraps of papers, Mod Podge, acrylic paint and a piece of contact paper.
I cut all my pieces of paper into 1”x1” squares and used a layer of Mod Podge to adhere them to the canvas.  Once you have your canvas covered with the scraps rub over it with a brayer or something similar to make sure the papers are firmly adhered.  Let it dry for a few minutes while you cut your desired shape.  I have found that a piece of contact paper makes a fantastic little stencil and it cuts nicely when I use my Cricut.  I cut a tree from the Winter Frolic cartridge for this project.  Add the cut shape to the papers and smooth out any wrinkles and ensure you have the contact paper adhered completely.  Add a thin layer of acrylic paint and let it dry.  If you want to add another for better coverage go ahead.  I like to see the other papers peeking through a bit.  While the paint is just a little tacky carefully lift the contact paper off the papers and let the paint dry completely.
I added some Cosmo Cricket Tiny Type stickers at the bottom and outlined the tree with a Sharpie to help it stand out.  I then added a thin coat of Mod Podge to seal it.  While it was still wet I added some gems to finish it off.  Now since my edges were all uneven I added some fantastic tinsel ribbon with some hot glue to cover them up.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!  The next stop on the blog hop is Adele’s blog.