Birthday Card Calendar Box

I started my day early, taking my daughter into school early for a make-up test. So I got into my craft room early today, and finished this birthday card box. Every Christmas I make enough birthday cards to give to my gram for every member of the family. She's 99 years old and has macular degeneration. Usually I just put the cards in a plain, undecorated box, but this year I wanted to decorate the box in a way that she can see what the box holds. The cards are in their envies with members' names written in LARGE letters so she can see who gets which card. I put the cards in the box in calendar order, so throughout the year all she has to do is reach in and pull out the card in the front and she's good to go.
The box is just a plain white coated cardboard one from Michael's, and the pp is from a DCWV stack. The chipboard letters are an assortment of leftovers, and the cover is from a birthday kit swap. The sides of the box (not pictured) are covered with 3D flowers, and I added a pull tab for easier opening. I plan on using this photo in my 24 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS album for today's date, since my life is filled with work hours and this will be something different to scrap.

24 days before Christmas continues

I have been crafting, I promise! I just haven't had much time to take pictures and post my work. I have scrapped the days before Christmas up to December 10, and have the photos taken up thru today. I even have an idea of what I want to take a picture of tomorrow, but that's another day! On December 3rd, the Chicagoland area got its first snow. It wasn't much, but it sure was pretty! I was able to catch the falling snow with my camera (it didn't last long).

To show how busy I've been, and how much of my life is spent at work, I took a shot at the clock as I caught a glimpse of it and, although I was still banging away at my computer, realized quitting time had come and gone. This is a busy month for us (I work at a school). We have classes this week, then at least the kids will be gone for the next two weeks. We get Christmas Eve and Day, as well as New Year's Eve and Day, off as holidays. I put in for vacation days between CHristmas and New Year's, and boy, am I looking forward to that time off!!

On Saturday, I went to another All Day crop, and my sister enjoyed the last one so much she met me there again. She got 13 pages done. I got nine pages done, plus I finished a few Christmas projects as well.

I'm liking the 8x8 pagesfor this layout, especially when I showcase just one photo on each page. The patterned paper, called "Holiday" from Me & My Big Ideas, is so pretty I hate to cover it up with too many embellishments, so I just frame out the photo, add a journaling tag and maybe one or two embellies that aren't too much 3D.

Elf Dance

Check out the bottom of my blog. I and my co-workers have been Elfed!! It is the cutest video of the four of us as elves dancing hip hop! You can also go to Office Max and Elf Yourself. It's too funny--I love it!

Busy Week and Candy Winner

I have been hopping this week at work and at home. Although I have grabbed short moments to scrap, I haven't had the time to take photos of my pages yet! Just got home from helping to coordinate a Christmas party for about 20 Catholic Charities families. We served lunch, had carnival games for the kids, set up a craft corner, played Bingo, and offered a secret Santa shop that the kids could"shop" for Christmas presents for their parents. And of course, Santa came with a present for each child. We fundraised and had enough money to spend $20 on each one of 43 kids! I am so tired I don't want to move! But I feel good about the day.

Meanwhile, my random generator (hubby) has picked a number based on the order of posts, and lucky number 14 is the winner. The would be the Paper Princess, Ramona. Congrats, and I will send out your Christmas goodies this week!

I have already made a plan for my 2010 goals, but I want to refine them before posting. Thanks for playing everybody, keep in touch!

2009 Goals Met - that means Blog Candy!

I have had a wonderfully productive year in my craft room. I have doen a major clean out, made over 365 handmade items, and scrapped over 100 pages! My 2009 goals have been met, and that means BLOG CANDY. Pictured above are a 6x6 cloth-bound scrapbook album, 20 6x6 sheets of patterned paper, a 3x3 cardstock stack, various Christmas stickers, Christmas buttons, bling, ribbons, and homemade "snow" embellishment (like flocking). Added to this holiday pile are various Christmas and winter images for your coloring pleasure! I sure hope this offering interests you!!
If you would like a chance to win my first ever BLOG CANDY, simply post a comment on this post. Want more than one chance to win? Link this post on your blog and let me know. Not only can I check out your creative efforts, but that's a great way to let you know if you've won!!
I will keep the contest open until Friday, December 11, midnight CDST USA, then will pick a random winner. I want to mail the package out so that the winner can use everything for this Christmas.
Meanwhile, hope your weekend was fun. I had a great time at a 12 hour crop hosted By Heidi, owner and moderator of LuckyBug Yahoo Groups. My sister joined us and we had loads of laughs, and got a bunch of pages and projects done as well.
Have a good week!

100th page...SCORE!!

I was up bright and early this morning, in order to catch our Christmas lights just as dawn was breaking. My camera, although good, won't let me change the shutter speed (or it will, I just don't know how to get to that menu...yet). Anyway, I had to have enough light to see the bushes and house, but enough dark to show off the lights.
This is my 100th layout page in 2009, marking this day the day I fulfilled my goal of 100 pages this year, as well as the 365 handmade items (that I have now surpassed!).
Y'all know what that means. I will have a pretty little bundle of blog candy ready for someone to win. I promise to make the time to post a photo of the candy by the end of the weekend. In the meantime, I am basking in the glory of my victory LOL.

25 Days of Christmas

On the first day of December, Pat took a photo of her desktop pen holder...and scrapped it!
I am starting a "25 Days of Christmas" album, taking and scrapping a photo for each day. It may or may not have anything to do with the holiday, but it is still a moment in time leading up to December 25. My own personal Advent calendar of sorts. So here is my first page. I have learned a valuable lesson today. My phone camera is not worthy of my albums. I am going to have to carry my big hunking Canon with me everywhere I go (or not go).