{top 10 of 2014 Blog Hop!}

Posted on December 30, 2014 by elendae

Good morning and welcome to the BIG Top 10 of 2014 Blog Hop. We’re sharing some of our favorite projects from the year – and hope that you will hop along with us! There is a HUGE prize available for one lucky winner: a $75 gift certificate to Paper Issues! Some of the participants (like me!) are also offering a special giveaway on their blog, so keep hopping to see what goodies are available! One lucky winner will receive a PaperHouse Productions sticker goodie box – – – I will select a random commenter on this post on January 4th, and the winner will be posted here on Monday, January 5th! The winner for the grand prize will be posted at the same time.

Some of my favorite projects for 2014 were:

The full blog hop list is as follows:

Wendy Morris-Saponaro

>>>>you are here<<<<< Linda Auclair

Cathy Harper

Thanks for stopping by – hope 2015 will be a year of joy and creativity for you!

{12.13.14}

Posted on December 13, 2014 by elendae

Oh my, how time flies! I can’t believe my last post was over a month ago. It has been a pleasant whirlwind building up to the last two weeks of the Christmas season. Aileen’s first performance of The Nutcracker is less than a week away followed a few days later by her Winter Recital. We’re all dance, all the time around here.

I have been busily decking the halls since Thanksgiving weekend, and really love the way the house looks this year. All the little details add up to a very merry home.

I mad a bunch of 6×6 glitter canvases for gifts, and am keeping this one for myself. They turned out great, even if the house was wall to wall glitter while I was working on them!

My “caffeination station” got a hot chocolate makeover – with snowmen! I made a new wreath, and with the lights and garland, it is very festive! It makes me smile every morning when I make my coffee.

I started a December Daily album but am already very behind. I’m using a mix of new Simple Stories goodies, and some favorites from last season. Here’s the cover – –

I used a Simple Stories 6 x 8 album, and painted the spine with metallic gold paint. The woodland animal stickers are from Jolee’s and I pulled out some of my all-time favorite alphabet stickers from American Crafts.

Here’s my intro page – again a mix of old and new. New SS and Pink Paislee mixed with some older patterned paper from Echo Park. I just love that photo of the kids that I took on Thanksgiving, and used it in my Christmas cards this year.

And here’s the first page in the album. On December 1st, the kids and I went to a book signing at Water Street Books and we got to meet author John Flanagan!

The next two weeks are going to be organized chaos – – but we will be very merry indeed! Stay tuned for more December Daily pages and Nutcracker photos – – and as we slide toward the New Year, I’ll be participating in a Blog Hop and sharing some CHA previews.

Have a great weekend!

{Veteran’s Day}

Posted on November 11, 2014 by elendae

Good morning! The kids are off from school today, and we all enjoyed an extra morning to sleep in – something that we all needed! It’s my sister’s birthday today, so if she’s reading… HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

I’ve got a special Paper House Productions project to share today in honor of Veteran’s Day. It features the new US Military collection of papers and stickers.

The kids and I agree that Daddy looks just like Pepere in the photos….

Take a moment to thank an armed service member for their service today, and make it a good day.

{remembering}

Posted on November 6, 2014 by elendae

Good morning! I blinked, and suddenly it is Thursday! It is going to be Thanksgiving before I know it, and I wish that I could slow time down just a little bit, because I know that no matter how much time I think I have for holiday crafting, it is always a race to the finish trying to get everything done! I would love to put together a wooden star like this one I spotted in Marshalls the other day. Of course, it might be quicker for me to just buy it! #fabfound

We went to the mall after school on Monday. A few years ago when the kids discovered mall store brand names and I had my first smartphone, I started to document the kids’ Christmas wish lists in photographs. That way I could be sure that I got precisely *the* sweater they had seen while shopping. It sure has made life easier! So we wandered through Aeropostale, Old Navy, Bath and Body Works, and Forever 21 snapping photos of things they like. I’ll start Christmas shopping in earnest soon, and my annual Black Friday shop-a-palooza with my Mom is right around the corner. I remember when our trips consisted mainly of a surgical strike on the toy aisles of Target to get those doorbuster deals on Barbie and Littlest Pet Shop – – times sure have changed!

I had time to do a little scrapping yesterday, and put together a super simple Halloween page. I used a black gingham patterned paper from Pebbles, Inc. along with some alpha stickers and chipboard from Sassafras and Pink Paislee, and the Halloween stickers are from EK Success.

Hope you are having a great week!

{30 days of thankful}

Posted on November 3, 2014 by elendae

Good morning! Welcome to November! Even though Brigid and I are still shaking our heads trying to figure out how it can possibly be November already, it is one of my favorite months of the year. I absolutely love Thanksgiving!

I spent the weekend changing our home decor over from Halloween to “Harvest”. These vintage Annalee mice pilgrims were my friend Nancy’s. She passed away earlier this year, and I was given several of her sweet home decor items. She loved decorating her home for the holidays as much as I do, and I am thankful to have some of her pretty things to add to my own holiday decor this year.

We had our first snow showers yesterday, but they didn’t stick. Jonathan got quite a bit more than we did, and Maine got enough to bring down trees and power lines! We stayed warm and cozy, though, and our power stayed on. I made a big pot of “Hillbilly Bean” soup. Soup and fresh bread together are my favorite meal, and I plan on trying out a whole lot of new recipes in addition to my tried and true favorites during the cold months. This is one of my all-time favorite cookbooks. I believe it is out of print now, but you can still get used copies on Amazon. I haven’t made *every* recipe in the book, but I can safely say that I have made *most* of them. Love, love, love her simple, fresh, and accessible recipes. If you spot it in a used bookstore, grab a copy. You won’t be sorry! I have a whole Pinterest board devoted to soup, which you can find here. I made some fresh bread to go along with my bean soup. I started with Tastefully Simple’s “Bountiful Beer Bread” and added 3 tablespoons of pumpkin puree. It is SO good!

I’m doing Cathy Zielske’s “30 Days of Thankful” this month. If you want to keep track of my photos, you can find my Instagram account here. ((photo from Cathy Z’s blog))

I will be working on a new papercrafting project this week, and stitching some little felt stockings for our church fair. It’s going to be a busy, crafty week!

I hope you all have a wonderful day! See you soon!

{happy halloween!}

Posted on October 31, 2014 by elendae

Good morning! Happy Halloween! The kids are all ready for their evening festivities. Aileen is going trick or treating with her bestie as they do every year, and for the first time in forever is allowed to wear her costume to school! New principal, new rules – and she is pretty happy about that! She’ll add the wig and other “Alice” accessories tonight, but this is how she went off to school today….

Brigid isn’t trick or treating this year – – but she is trick or canning. The Student Council kicks off their November food drive this evening, and will be knocking on doors asking for non-perishable food items for the food pantry.

I’ve got a couple spooky projects to share this morning. I broke out my Halloween hoard and pulled together a bunch of different papers and embellishments to go along with my new 3D Stickers from Paper House. I think that they turned out “scare-rific”…

I am so happy that I got my mudroom project finished in time so I could decorate for Halloween! I love the way it turned out, and couldn’t resist creating a page to highlight some photos I took of my display!

Wishing you all treats and no tricks this Halloween! Have a great weekend!

{#tbt – 10.30.14}

Posted on October 30, 2014 by elendae

Good morning! It was a chilly one out there when we got up this morning – – – but nothing like what we woke up to three years ago. I have a couple photos to share from our October 2011 snowstorms…

and

Brrrr!

My page today uses the new Creative Agenda collection from Echo Park Paper. I just love the colors and patterns!

If you know your scrappy goodies, you’ll be able to spot embellishments from some other companies too: the flair is from October Afternoon, the “Be Happy” chipboard is from Pink Paislee, and the “Passionately Curious” sticker is from Shimelle,

Come on back tomorrow – no tricks, just Halloween treats featuring Paper House Productions awesome 3D sticker sets…

Hope everyone is having a great week!

{a perfect autumn}

Posted on October 29, 2014 by elendae

Good morning! As promised, I have a brand new page to share with you today! I have been hoarding this new Carta Bella collection since it was released and now that autumn is in full swing, I know that I will be dipping into it often throughout the season!

Isn’t it great? I just love the colors, and you know I’m all about the owl and fox motifs!

The photos are from the first day of school. Brigid is having a surprisingly good freshman year so far. There has been a lot of *stuff* in town and up at the HS on since that first day of school, but she hasn’t let any of it dim her smile or her sense of purpose this year. She’s maintaining an A+ average in all of her regular classes, and also in her Pre-Engineering class at SST. We call it “eyes on the prize” and she is already doing some research on colleges. I couldn’t be more proud of her!

Hope you all have a wonderful day!

{pumpkin carving}

Posted on October 28, 2014 by elendae

Good morning! I’m off to a slow start this week, which usually is the case after a busy weekend. We had time for a little fun in between all of the other activities, and carved our pumpkins on Sunday. I remember when carving a pumpkin meant three triangles and a wide toothy grin. But as the kids get older, the pumpkins have gotten more and more elaborate. (I blame it on Pinterest – lol!) After hours of scrolling through inspiring ideas, the girls finally settled on their designs: Cinderella’s castle for Brigid (which reflects her current obsession with Once Upon a Time) and a cat for Aileen. I had such a hard time making up my mind. I had some geeky ideas, but couldn’t find a pumpkin the right shape for a dalek or R2D2, so I settled upon a wide-eyed owl design. I think they came out great!

Halloween night is going to be interesting. Aileen may be able to trick or treat with her friend again this year, but I have a plan B in case she isn’t able to. Brigid will be participating in a canned food drive with Student Council that has been dubbed “Trick or Canning”. There is a first ever “Trunk or Treat” event sponsored by a local church on Friday night as well. If you celebrate, what are your Halloween plans?

I worked on a new scrapbook page yesterday. <I know, right? Don’t faint!> I’ve got to get it scanned, and hopefully will post it sometime this week.

Hope you have a great day!

{fabulous fall}

Posted on October 21, 2014 by elendae

Good morning! Long time, no blog! I’m still here, feeling a bit sorry for not blogging as frequently as I used to. I spent most of last week finishing up some projects for Paper House – I’ll be watching their blog for them and will be sure to link you up!

When I heard the weather forecast for the rest of the week, I decided that if I was going to get any photos of the Chester scarecrows this year, I’d better go take a ride! I spent an hour or so photographing the very creative scarecrows that folks had on display this year. I used my Project Life app to put together a fast digital page of some of my favorites…

I love that the town is able to pull off such a fun event year after year. The scarecrows are all so clever and driving around trying to find them all is a lovely way to spend a fall morning, and I look forward to it every October!

While I was out, I picked up three pumpkins for us to carve this weekend. We’re all still trying to decide what designs we want to do!

Hope everyone is enjoying the fall festivities. I, for one, am very thankful for the cooler weather we have in store this week. We had a touch of “indian summer” last week, and it was too much for me! Bring on the fuzzy slippers and fleece!

Have a great day!