Gold Star baby

Well after weeks of waiting, I finally got my

Starbucks Gold Card :) and it's a well deserved

card at that, heck, we should have shares in

Starbucks by now. Can't wait to flash it later

today when we make our regular coffee stop.

This is a dorky post, that's true, but something

that brings a smile to my face.

Old and new

When Jordyn was young, in about grade 4, my mom

taught her how to crochet, and mom gave her left over

Christmas wool to do so. Jordyn crocheted until the ball

of wool was done, and it was a long skinny string that stretched

from one end of our large backyard to the other. Having no

idea what to do with it, I decided to put in on our tree that

year instead of the normal garland we always used.

Well, flash forward all these years later, and that long skinny

crocheted snake still wraps itself around our tree each and every

year. I love it, the simplicity, the love it puts on our tree and

still shows her how much I love that silly bit of wool.

This year, I decided I would give crocheting a try, and well, all

I can seem to do is make the same kind of long, skinny strand.

So guess where this will be when I am done? Right alongside

the one she made so many years ago.

Gingerbread cookies

Jordyn has been asking to make these cookies for

about a week now, so today we picked up some cookie

cutters, the ingredients we didn't have at home and

off to the land of baking she went. She found a easy

recipe on the internet and in now time had the batter

ready for cutting out and baking. Instead of the normal

decorating she has done in the past, she went with

chocolate instead, always a good thing in my books.

Just the feet or bottoms for them, all dipped and

drying on the sheets of wax paper, then it was off

to eyes and buttons for the little boys and girls.

A pipping bag of melted chocolate and a carefree

hand and attitude, each little cookie became a

gingerbread boy or girl. And yes, they taste

as yummy as the look.

Starbucks at Christmas

So I have recently seen a couple of mini albums

made out of Starbucks cups, and thought they would

be fun to try, but I wanted to add a twist to mine and

use all the different sized cups, and even the paper

elements in the form of their treat bags and gift bags.

So today, at our usual Starbucks, I got all kinds of goodies

to make this album happen, so I will try to get to it this

weekend, and hopefully all going well, I will be able to

post a finished album soon. I have no idea what I am doing

so this will be a surprise even to me when it's done.

But doesn't the picture just make you happy? something about

Starbucks at Christmas time makes me feel all warm inside.

I love the snow, especially when it's still falling, so
I braved the cold tonight, took my point and shoot camera and went outside to take a few photos.


Just simple photos actually, but I always hate when we get a snowfall at night, only to wake to it all being gone in the morning. So tonight, with the help of my flash, I captured a few photos of the first snowfall of the season.

My first December Daily Album

I am in love with Ali Edwards scrapbooking style,

and am a daily follower of her blog, but I have never

wanted to do a December Daily until this year.

In the summer, I did my first Week in the Life,

also inspired by Ali and had a great time with it,

so I decided I would try this new project for Christmas.

As I kind of see it, it's like a photo advent calendar,

but of our life, so each day, I will pick one thing

happening and focus the photos and journaling on

what is going on, right then and there.

I started a bit tentatively and feeling a bit overwhelmed

about the whole process, I decided on going with a line of

product in which paper, and stickers etc would all go

together, alliviating some of the big decision making

that I usually go through just to do a layout.

I loved this line, which is called 25 days of Christmas

which is made by Simple Stories. I then used my new

cricuit cartridge called Elegant Edges to shape my

chipboard front and back panels, as well as to cut

out my overlays which I used as page dividers.

I adhered the paper to both front and back sides

of the chipboard and then added the sticker

calendar, the sticker letters and "family"

which is all part of the coordinating sticker sheets

that are part of the set, there are 3 sheets of

stickers available, letters, datess and one that

offers a variety of Christmas themed items.

No being digital savvy, I hand did all my day

sheets with a ruler, paper rounder and more

stickers from the set. I think it looks pretty

darn close to the digital version if I do say so.

Here is a photo of my day sheets after I decorated

each with fun stickers, words and paterned paper.

This photo is the same spread, but with the

overlay dividers laid upon the days I did them

for. (I would of liked to have one for each day,

but finding overlays is difficult, and I had to

make do with what I could find).

This photo shows the front and back covers of the

album, along with two extra pages I put in for

Christmas Eve and Day. I am also going to use

a bunch of 2 x 2 slide holder sheets, that I will

cut down to fit the album on those days when I

need more room for photos.

This is my album now that I have it all ready to go.

Now I just really want it to be December 1st so I can

start on it. I can't wait to see what stories I focus on

and share it with my family after the holiday.

For the love of Fall

These are my new geocaching boots, and I really like them, they are warm and waterproof and means I can get into any spot to find a cache. But this weekend, the thing I liked most about them was how they made wonderful crunching sounds on the bed of dried leaves as we walked along many different trails. We had a wonderful dry weekend, and the sun even came out to shine down on us. I also seemed much more aware of all the smells, textures and sounds this weekend, from the honking of the flock of geese overhead, the barking dogs, the neighing of the horses as they passed by us on a few trials or the simpleness of no sound of all, just the quietness of the forests and trails we wandered in search of the cache. I have always loved fall, the brilliant color palete, the warmess of layer clothes and the slight chill in the air that allows us to see our breath as we discover new outdoor places. This weekend was a break from routine, from work, and even from the normal rain that usually encompasses us for most of this time of year.

This is one of the last pictures I took today on my phone, just as we were coming back from finding a cache, the sun shining just slightly on some of the leaves, capturing natures simple beauty. How could you not love fall, with it's abundance of color and texture.

Moving on

Jordyn had worked at Wendy's since

she was 14 years old, it was her first

job and she worked there for over

3 years. Even after finding a full time

job at Quizno's last month, she had

continued working one shift at Wendy's

since they had told her she was too good

an employee to lose. Well, she has

finally told them she is done, no more

shifts, no more being taken advantage

of, no more smelling like a vat of hot

french fry oil. For her, she has left that

part of her, and her early teen years, in

the past, and is now taking steps towards

a new goal, working full time to get enough

money saved up to pay for her education in

a private instituation and get a degree that will

allow her to venture out into a whole new world

of discovery, adventure and growth. Good luck

baby girl, I know bigger and better things are

in your future.