More Elf Pictures

| cristina

I am having so much fun with our Elf this year! I can see making a whole album just with these pictures. He is totally adorable! 😉

He’s turning out to be quite the reckless type! 🙂

Day 7

He was really sweet this day, reminding us to write our Christmas cards…

Day 8

Guess who got a sewing machine as an early Christmas present?!?!!?!!!!!!!! 😀 And guess who else is loving it? 😉 Wow, it looks like he really knows what he’s doing! Maybe he can teach me how to use it!

Day 9

Uh-oh… I spoke too soon… No more sewing for Jingle Ginger!

Day 10

Well, he eventually finished his scarf, and is testing it out in the fridge! I guess it’s too warm here for him, being from the North Pole and all… 😉

Day 11

December Daily Deals at The Lilypad!

| cristina

My mom’s visit is over (already), and I’m settling back into my routine. I have a few days to catch up on for my December Daily album, and I’m looking forward to it! Unfortunately I have a busy work week ahead so I’m not sure just how much crafty time I’ll manage to squeeze in. Wish me luck!

I also wanted to post about a great sale at The Lilypad. For the month of December, each day a category of the store will be 25% off. Here’s the schedule for the whole month!

The December BYOC is coming out this Friday, so look out for some gorgeous new products!

Elf on the Shelf

| cristina

This year I started a new tradition. In the past few months, I learned about the Elf on the Shelf concept, and decided it was time for us to start it. To make it short, the elf joins your family and every night he goes back to the North Pole to report back to Santa whether you’ve been bad or good. You aren’t allowed to touch him, and each morning you have to go find where he is. After Christmas, he goes back to the North Pole until the following year. Of course this makes sense for children, but who cares if we don’t have any; we are in love with our elf already and it’s lots of fun to think of new things for him to do each day. 🙂 I gave the elf to DH as a birthday present. 🙂 We named him Jingle Ginger and he is just plain adorable!

He loves Christmas carols.

Day 1

Last Saturday we put up the tree, and he seemed to like it!

Day 2

He likes his name!

Day 3

For the past couple of days DH had been wanting us to play this fun board game, since we always play when my mom is here and it’s a lot of fun. It appears that Jingle Ginger wanted us to play too! And we did play that night, of course. 🙂

Day 4

On Dec. 1st he reminded us it was time to start the Advent calendar! 🙂

Day 5

This morning, he started showing his naughty side. He opened up the bag of chocolates and feasted on it! 😉

Day 6

Do you have an elf? If you don’t, it’s not too late to start! 🙂

December Is Here!

| cristina

This means the December challenges are up at The Lilypad. I played along in the Product Challenge, which consisted of using my favorite things: bright colors, patterned background and lots of alphas. 🙂

Credits:
Bring on the Cake by Karah Fredricks, Kate Hadfield and Kaye Winiecki
Sushi Anyone? by Jacque Larsen
Stripey Line alpha by Kaye Winiecki
Also a Very Small Alpha by Allison Pennington
Finishing Touches 6 by Karah Fredricks
Font: Pea Pumpkin Peters

I love how this page turned out!! 🙂

December is here, and this means it’s finally time to start my December Daily album! I won’t be starting to work on it until next week, after my mom leaves, but I can start planning pictures now. 🙂 Yay!

Surviving Black Friday

| cristina

I was busy shopping yesterday (we went out at 6AM for our first Black Friday, and it was a success!!), but I have to show you two kits by Leora Sanford that are back in her store now! They are both really gorgeous. I love it that Leora’s kits make it so easy to scrap a page! There’s a Christmas kit that I truly love:

I’ve used this kit last year in my December Daily album and it’s a classic – I love that red patterned paper! And then there’s this beautiful and versatile kit:

which I’ve used for this page:

Mom's Visit Day 14 - Hotel

Credits:
The Promise of Tomorrow by Leora Sanford
Fonts: Pea Pumpkin Peters and The King and Queen

This page seriously came together in no time, and I love it!

Anyway, going back to Black Friday… It was our first time heading out early, but we were really lucky and got some great deals (we went for clothes mainly, but I also picked up some photo paper 50% off at Staples, which is great)! I also did some online shopping before heading out: I bought RadLab and a sewing machine. Yay!! I seriously got all I wanted for Christmas! 🙂

Document Your December

| cristina

There is a great new Christmas Collection out today at The Lilypad. It’s called Document Your December, and it is basically a BYOC with Christmas products. How cool is that?? I have mixed and matched a bunch of these products to make the base pages for my December Daily album. I am loving how they’re coming along so far!

DYD 2011

DYD 2011

DYD 2011

Credits:
No Peeking papers and Pocket Stuffers by Valorie Wibbens
Half Rounds by Amy Martin
Journal Everyday and December Bits by Sabrina Dupre
A Christmas Collab by Micheline Martin and Fruitloop Sally
Big Ol’ Tags 3 by Lauren Reid
Very Merry embellishments by Precocious Paper and Sahlin Studio

I also used two products by Sahlin Studio to make a quick welcome card for my mom. 🙂

I bought a cheap watercolor set this past weekend, and I am loving it! 🙂

Welcome card

Thanksgiving Weekend

| cristina

As we’re getting ready for the Thanksgiving celebrations, Black Friday and the awesome Document Your December releases coming Friday at The Lilypad, I squeezed in another page for my mom’s previous visit’s album. 🙂 But first let me give you a sneak peek of what is coming. 🙂 I’ve been working on my Daily December pages for this year with these new products, so make sure you check back to see them on Friday. 🙂

document your december

Anyway, going back to today’s 50% off specials, I used these awesome templates by Amy Martin:

Mom's Visit Day 13 - Sassy Shoes

Here’s my page:

Mom's Visit Day 13 - Sassy Shoes

Credits:
Garland mini v3 by Amy Martin
Sass Mouth and Sass Mouth Alpha by The Tattered Pearl
Petalicious by Kaye Winiecki
Sugar Shock font bundle by Lauren Reid and Darcy Baldwin
Font: Pea Pumpkin Peters

Goodbye ScrapMatters!

| cristina

After many years, it is time for me to say goodbye to ScrapMatters. It has been my digi home for three years so allow me to reminisce a bit. 🙂 I have been on the CT there for over two years, and the hybrid CT leader for almost two years. Yes, it has been a very long love affair. I did my very first speed scrap at ScrapMatters. I still remember the summer of 2008, when the site reopened with lots of games and prizes during the Olympic Games, and I was instantly hooked. The community at ScrapMatters has always been friendly and supportive, and I felt at home right away. I got into hybrid because of the It’s In the Cards challenges there, in October 2008 – I fell in love with hybrid and the rest is history! I won a guest spot on the CT by finishing in the top posters for Queen of Scrap in 2009; during my guest spot I applied to the hybrid creative team call and got accepted, thanks to Kari’s (then hybrid CT leader) and the other hybrid designers’ support; a few months later Kari left to be a designer at Jessica Sprague’s shop, and I was asked to be the hybrid CT leader. In my role as hybrid CT leader I met my best digi friend, Kim (kimbytx), who was asked around the same time to become digi CT leader. Kim and I have been through a lot together: CT calls, designer assignments, and much more. I have met so many good friends during my time at ScrapMatters, and have been endlessly inspired by incredibly talented scrappers – I am especially in awe of the rockin’ hybrid girls! I hope to have inspired people with the monthly hybrid tutorials I wrote for the newsletter first, then for the quarterly magazine. I met many of my all-time favorite designers at ScrapMatters, some of whom have asked me to be on their CT (Jenn and Krista, I wub you!!). I value tremendously the opportunity to work with the newsletter team – such a talented bunch of ladies! It was a pleasure to collaborate with so many wonderful people and I will be forever grateful for being part of the team at ScrapMatters. It is now time for me to move on, but I will carry these special memories in my heart.

Lots of Crafting Projects!

| cristina

I have been busy creating this weekend, since it will be a while before I can craft again, with my mom being here. I have started my December Daily album and i am loving how it’s coming along! Jenn Barrette and Krista Sahlin have teamed up to make this fabulous Christmas kit that inspired my to start on this year’s December Daily project. 🙂

It is available at The Lilypad and at Sweet Shoppe Designs. Plus there are some fantastic add on packs:

This is what my first pages look like. I recolored a few items to match my color scheme. More peeks to come towards the end of the week! 🙂

December Daily 2011 - base (1)

I have not decided what date these pages will be for yet, that will depend on what pictures I have for each day.

Another big project I have committed to for next year is Project Life. I am in the process of buying the binder and the paper kit, and I am excited to start. I will also be printing out digi goodies to fill my album, and the new collection by Jenn Barrette and Kristin Cronin-Barrow is simply perfect for this!

The colors are really versatile, and I am crazy about those journaling pieces! 🙂 I made this card to start with. 🙂

Happiness Lives Here card

I also made a card for DH’s birthday this week. I had fun making this – it uses a digital stamp and it is my first time using one!

That owl is so cute! I followed a tutorial by Trish on how to digitally color stamps (well… truth be told, I skipped a few steps, but it worked for me 😉 and I will be using digital stamps again for sure! 🙂 ).

Birthday Card 2011

Credits:
Hoo-ray Digital Stamp by Kaye Winiecki
Background paper from Bring on the Cake by Karah Fredricks, Kate Hadfield and Kaye Winiecki
Colored with brush from Finishing Touches 6 by Karah Fredricks

Have a great week! 🙂