So if you are like many, who make goals or New Years Resolutions to get fit, eat better or lose weight…then I would advise you to eat all of those boxes of chocolates you received for Christmas today before the clock strikes 12, lol.
Unless of course you are putting it off until Monday ;)
I hope you all ring in the New Year with family and friends….or just sit back and enjoy the evening with a warm drink and a movie…either way sounds perfect to me.
Tonight I will be celebrating at home, with my family and a few friends over.
But I will also be reflecting on this past year at all of the blessings we have had.
I have a family who is healthy, happy and so loving…as well as a new addition to our family…my son in law.
Yes, I am a lucky lady and am so blessed :)
I hope when you reflect on the past year, you feel just as lucky and blessed as I do.
So I thought I would give it a go.....not realizing how long it would take, or how much paper I would need.
Each month takes almost 100 pages…per month!
See this stack of blog posts...this is only 2 months worth, January and February for 2010.
I have a long way to go.
Look at how cute Sebastian is.
He is such a good kitty... Unlike his crazy puppy brother.
When I went to take Oscar for a walk today, I noticed stuffing all over the floor.
Poor BooBoo stuffy.
So I played fetch with him for a long time before taking him for a walk.
I wish I could bottle some of his energy.
Can you believe tomorrow is the last day of 2015!!!
Well look at this cutie :)
This is Oscar, my daughter and son-in-law's puppy.
They are away on a trip so my SIL's sister and I are taking care of their animals
Remember how I said he was a cutie…well he is…but a hyper active cutie.
He loves to jump up on everyone and likes to nip on things.
Today he got my mitt off of my hand, then picked it up and ran away with it….little stinker.
Even though Oscar gets a lot of attention due to his demand for it….Sebastian is just as loved.
He is hiding under the kitchen table waiting for the demon dog to come in from outside, lol.
I picked up some training treats and have been trying to get Oscar to sit and stay.
He is understanding the sit…but not the stay command so much, lol.
He is also very excitable when going on his walks…but he was so good today when I walked him.
He let me put on his collar without jumping crazily and even walked beside me for the walk…so proud of him :)
I haven't been on the internet that much lately…hence no blog posts from me..or me visiting all of your blogs.
I have just been enjoying the holiday with my family and friends, relaxing and eating too much sweets (and lots of pop) and yummy junk food.
I know one of my New Years goals for 2016
From my home to yours, I want to wish you a very Merry Christmas :)
Look who received a selfie stick, teehee
We had some fun with it :)
Since I had to flip the camera….not the clearest photos.
But never the less….we had some laughs, and these photos documented this :)
You know, we love Christmas morning in this house.
Even though we are all adults, we were awake bright and early this morning :)
We have a few neighbours with very young children….found it funny to see that their homes were still dark when we got up, lol.
This is our traditional Christmas morning breakfast…apple and strawberry turnovers…yummy :)
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas spent with those you love <3 p="">
Tracy :)
You know you have gone overboard (yet again) on gifts for your family, when it takes all day to wrap them.
I spent yesterday making gift card holders…which I will share, once I take photos.
Today was spend putting some card kits together for gifts…I think I may make myself one as well ;)
Hope you are all ready for the Holidays and have a very Creative Day :)
I didn't share my most bestest shopping goodies from our trip :)
I love these Angie Girl images created by Angie Blom..love, love, love them…can you tell ;)
The girl with her head down reminds me of my daughter Kristy..they have the same hair style.
Then there is this girl holding the hot chocolate…I know most will say she is holding coffee, as I don't like the taste of coffee, mine is holding hot chocolate ;)
See the girl sitting down reading the book. Now she reminds me of my daughter Heather..who loves to read.
And the girl with the long wavy locks with the hat…well, she looks like my daughter Ashley on her honeymoon…I have a photo to prove it, teehee
I had placed this big order with Unity stamps quite a while ago and decided to get the free delivery, by getting them shipped to the border.
Great idea right…..
Well because this sale was so big, they didn't get shipped out in time for Wayne and I to pick them up when we went on our trip, last month.
They just happen to come in the day After we came home.
Not Unity's fault, I just thought that they would have been in, from how long they took from previous orders I had placed.
When we went on this last trip, I knew they were in and was so excited to pick them up.
Disappointedly they couldn't find my package :(
I was so scared that they had lost it, or shipped it back, as I didn't pick it up right away.
They knew we wanted to get back on the road…as we were there 6:00am.
They reassured me that they would find it, and I could pick it up on our way back home that Sunday.
I have to tell you I was pretty relieved when we got there on Sunday and my parcel was waiting for me :)
I hope you all had a very Creative Day.
Being as it is Friday Night Scrapbooking I will :)
I know I should be working on my Christmas cards…heck they should be in the mail by now.
But instead, I am altering some recipe cards to be used for Christmas.
My daughters love to bake and get excited when its Christmas baking time.
They plan out which yummy treats to make for the staff for where they work, or for Christmas get togethers with the family and sometimes to give away as gifts.
This year they decided to write them all up on good ol' fashion recipe cards…well, with a twist :)
You know that they had to be creative with them, right ;)
Kristy told me how she wanted the cards decorated…and I went to work.
We kept them simple, yet fun…at least I think so and they love them :)
I am so happy for a new week to start.
Last week was full of doctors appointments, dental work and a few visits to the emergency room.
Don't worry, we are all fine.
Here is to a week of Christmas prep and enjoying a healthy family :)
I hit the jackpot in Pine City Scrapbookers when we went through there :)
I just love this store/retreat.
It is one of the last Scrapbooking stores that I know of….I still have to travel 6+ hours and cross the border to get there….but it is always a treat when I do :)
I picked up quite a few dies this time.
I have so many ideas for Christmas cards now, I don't know which one I will choose to make…yup, still haven't even started on those.
I thought those circle dies with the image in the centre were lovely and LOVE the one with the deer and how its antlers take up 1/2 of the circle.
Also can't wait to cut out those trees and teacups.
Onto My Day:
Being as it is the 12th of December, it is the day we put up our tree.
I know many of you mentioned that you enjoy putting your trees up early because you enjoy looking at the lights every night.
I am right there with ya.
There is just something so peaceful about looking at the tree lights in the quiet of the evening.
But I like the anticipation of the season, so that is why I like to wait till now to put up our tree.
More shoppin' shoppin' shoppin'
My Target haul….
We don't have Target here in Canada anymore, so the girls enjoy going to one, and I enjoy checking out their Target spot :)
I love this Coke t-shirt, it is so me.
I picked the colouring book up in a small shop in Burnsville Mall.
Then to Michael's.
I just love the fabric used on this cosmetic bag….which will probably be used as a pencil case or for embellishments.
Tomorrow I will show you my happiest creative goodies that I purchased :)
Here are some of the goodies I picked up on our trip last weekend :)
First stop (after Cabela's) was Hobby Lobby.
I told myself I can't purchase paper or washi tape…oops ;)
But how could I not pick up this washi tape, its so pretty…and gold hearts…how could I not!
We then stopped at Jo-Anns.
I thought this "Special Delivery" stamp set from Heidi Swapp, with the Christmas stamps, would look really cute on my Christmas card envelopes (when I get to making my cards that is).
I picked the candles up from IKEA.
Ashley purchased a plant stand and Heather purchased a dresser…I wanted to grab a big item, but knew there wouldn't be enough room in the jeep for it all.
I ran into a Tuesday Morning.
I have heard such great opinions on these Precision pens.
I have looked all over for them, but could never find them.
So I was quite excited when I saw them :)
I have tried them out and they are great so far.
I was a bit disappointed in what I had found all in all :(
If you have seen my previous crafty shopping trips when we go away, then you can see why I felt this way….but then again if you remember when I shared my messy room, you know I don't need anything.
But more to share tomorrow :)
Completed a book :)
Every year in December I like to read a Christmas type of book, to get me in the Christmas spirit…not that I need any help in that department :)
Mind you, as you can see in the photo, there is no snow here at all. So I may need some help believing Christmas is on its way.
We took a family trip to Minneapolis this weekend, I had noticed in Barnes & Noble, that they had these Christmas novels for a very good price!
I didn't have my cheater glasses with me, so I couldn't read what each one was about….but these types of books are usually all pretty much the same as stories go.
I call these types of books, Easy Reads as the stories are pretty predictable.
Not my normal type of reading, but enjoy them once a year :)
I bought them all!
I read one of them on our drive home…so an easy 4 hour read.
Of course we headed to Mall of America since it was a family trip, and you know we have to go there when the girls come along.
I was informed that the Pioneer lady was going to be there.
I am not a follower of hers, as you all know how much I LOVE to cook, (read that with as much sarcasm as you can muster).
But a friend of mine does and asked me if I could get a signed copy of her book…which I was going to do.
That was until we saw the line ups….crazy!!
And we were there at 7:45 am before the mall opened.
But I did pick her up one of the Pioneer Lady's new cook books :)
I will share with you the purchases I made in later posts.
Because the Walking Dead isn't on :( We are going to start a new (to us) series, Prison Break.
Kristy has seen all of the seasons and has raved about it…so this is our new show to watch with Kristy for now :)
My daughter Ashley is into the planner craze…and why not, it is so fun :)
The other weekend we were working on our planners and she decorated hers for Christmas.
She made her divider with a greeting card and some pattern paper.
Isn't it adorable!!
I also love her string of Christmas lights running down the front of the planner.
And how about that adorable Santa paper clip…too cute!!!
I loved him so much, that Ashley made me one as well.
She made these ol' school….yup, just paper and hand cut with scissors.
I am going to put Jolly ol' St. Nick in my Christmas planner :)
Wow, it is December already…where has the year disappeared to?!
But with it being December….that means I can share my Christmas projects now :)
This is the album I am using for my December Daily this year.
I purchased this kit from the Crop & Create event last year…but didn't get to putting it together until this year.
My SIL Sharon and I both purchased this kit and put it together on the Girl's May long weekend :)
I think this album was meant to document the days up to Christmas, I made mine go till the end of the month as we celebrate right up till then :)
Here is a video showing the pages of this mini album as well as my December Dailies from the past :)
If you would rather watch the video on my YouTube channel…just click on the link ;) "Tracy's Treasures24"
Onto My Day:
Today I went to my friend Myra's and we made our chocolate turtles.
So yummy :)
Kristy has been bugging me to put our Christmas tree up, but I don't like it up until at least the 12th.
So I gave her a mini tree to put up in her room.
She ended up putting it down in our reading area :)
Wow, I just realized that I haven't posted since Wednesday!
You all know I post almost every day…I think this is the longest I have been away.
So I know you are all sitting on the edge of your seats waiting for me to share with you all that I have been up to, lol.
Tonight is the Mid-season finale of the Walking Dead.
This being one of my favourite shows, I had to celebrate this right ;)
So I dressed for the occasion.
Put on my jammy pants, one of my many Walking Dead t-shirts and plunked my butt on the couch :)
Wayne and I were going to make a taco dip/salad to enjoy while we watched the show…but yesterday we celebrated our Fakesgiving, so we had a lot of leftovers, so decided against the taco dip/salad.
Yes, yesterday we celebrated our Fakesgiving with my daughters, their boyfriends/husband and my friend/SIL Sharon and her husband Jim.
Are you are wondering what Fakesgiving is?
It is my made up holiday…actually it is just an excuse to have my family over and eat another turkey dinner :)
Being Canadian, we celebrate Thanksgiving in October, so what better way to get in another big family meal, then to celebrate the American Thanksgiving as well….plus we visit the States so often, we should have dual citizenship and be allowed to celebrate all of their holidays too, lol.
I read this book that I have heard such great reviews on.
I love to organize….I say I keep making a mess of things, just so I can re-organize ;)
One point that I love that she made, for your home to be more peaceful…is to focus on what you want to keep, not what you need to get rid of.
Keep only what you love (or brings you joy) or what is useful…everything else, be thankful it was in your life and then let it go.
Isn't that a great way to look at our belongings :)
I went through my phone photos…again.
As you can see from the photo above, I had deleted 2,846 photos.
I had just recently deleted over 1,000.
I actually froze my phone when I tried to delete them all at once.
Kristy had to help me by deleting them in smaller amounts.
I had also challenged myself to NOT shop for any crafty supplies for the month of November.
It was actually pretty easy.
But when you consider the shopping I did on our few trips to the States last month, and we will be heading there again in December….
But I did pick up some new nail polish colours. But that isn't crafty :)
Ashley always teases me that I always choose the same colours…which is partly true.
I did pick up a fun silver colour….I thought that might be a fun colour for Christmas :)
Well, there you go…that is what I have been up to lately :)
I hope you all have a very Creative day :)
How much mess can I can make working on my planners…
Apparently a lot, lol.
I thought I would share my work desk with the many other interesting and creative desks on the Stamping Ground's WOYWW.
Ashley and I worked on our planners and this is only my mess…Ashley and I had already cleaned up her area, lol.
I seem to like to use a lot of supplies.
Decisions, decisions…..
Ashley and I were working in our planners this weekend :)
I have a confession to make…..
I haven't been using my planner for my daily planning lately.
I have been making my "todo" lists on a note pad.
I have been analyzing why I haven't been using my planner lately.
I am thinking it was maybe because of the layout.
I am, by nature a list maker…so I was thinking a vertical planner layout may work better for me.
And because of this, I stopped using mine and started to think of ways to change it up.
The above photos show both a horizontal layout and a vertical layout.
For the vertical layout I just altered a horizontal layout.
I use a Day-Timer planner and like the binder.
So hopefully I can find a layout that works for me a bit better than the one I am (not) using at the moment.
I have been missing for a while on here.
I was uploading some videos and they take forever to do.
When I edit them, then finalize them to my laptop and lastly upload them to YouTube, it takes me all day.
Plus I can't use my laptop to check out the internet during this process.
What were the videos I made about, you ask?
They were on my Fauxbonichi.
One was a flip, the other a Fauxbonichi top 10 supplies
Felecia, from our Fauxbonichi Journalers Facebook group, challenged us to share our Top 10 Supplies that we use in our Fauxbonichi Journals.
Here are my Top 10 supplies.
1. Washi Tape…..were you surprised with that one, teehee.
2. Templates….I have templates for my Header and my Sun :)
3. Ruler…I use a small clear plastic ruler to keep my lines straight.
4.Pens…I have a few favourite pens and markers for writing with.
5. Stamps…this includes the Date stamps I use as well as images and words.
I also snuck in my rub-on numbers in there as well ;)
6. Inks….inks I use for stamping and how I store them.
7. Sticky Notes & stickers….I like lined post it notes to keep track of my day or when I am behind, as well as the many stickers I hoard ;)
8. Colouring Mediums….I love to colour and love colouring, so I have many different mediums to use in my journal. Copics, coloured pencils, inexpensive markers, Stampin Up markers etc.
9. My iPhone…I use my phone for the dictionary app. I am always doubting myself on how to spell something, I love this app!!
I also use it for checking out my blog for what I have been up to when I am behind on my journaling days.
10. Focus….Most importantly are my cheater glasses..I really am needing them more and more.
Also a tiny task lamp. so I can journal without disturbing my family as I am usually watching tv with them as I journal :)
Here is the video with these supplies and how I use them in more detail.
If you would rather watch this on my YouTube channel Tracy's Treasures, just click on the link :)
This video took forever.
After video taping, transferring the video from my camera to my laptop, then editing…I then have to finalize the edited video to my laptop, which takes about 3 - 4 hours.
Then I had to upload it to Youtube, which took 9+ hours.
Well…not only did I do this once, but I had to do it 3 times.
Day 1…Friday
After doing all of the above, I watched it on YouTube and noticed pieces of my video were missing.
My laptop wouldn't finalize my edited video as it indicated I didn't have enough room.
So I deleted my unused portions….little did I know it also deleted some of my used portions.
I emptied my trash folder and I formatted my camera…so I couldn't retrieve any of my files.
Plus, It was too late to do anything as it was after 3:00am
Second day:
I re-taped (1 hour) the parts of the video that were deleted.
Edited it (1.5 hours), finalized (3+ hours) and uploaded (9+hours).
When it was up on YouTube, I noticed that my music was in the wrong spot.
This was about 1:00 am.
Today:
Fixed the music.
Had to finalize it yet again (3+ hours).
Upload to YouTube at 4:00am….went to bed, lol.
I had to stop the upload every once in awhile today, to had to let my family use the internet for a bit today, lol.
This time upload time was over 10 hours
It was finally up on YouTube after 4:00pm.
Man I am one determined lady, lol
I hope you all had a creative Day :)
I did, since I had all of the down time (as I couldn't use my laptop during finalizing, and the family couldn't use the internet when I was uploading to YouTube) I spend most of the weekend with my daughters.
We were all around my large craft table chatting, while Ashley and I were working on our planners :)
So besides all the frustrations of this video, I had an awesome weekend with my girls.
It has been pouring the last couple of days….great days to stay inside and do a bit of journaling :)
Here are my pages (before adding my journaling) for today and yesterday.
I am trying my hand at drawing faces (again) and adding different looks to these girls.
For yesterday's girl "Autumn Girl" I stamped her hair to look like fall leaves.
I used my Blick's coloured pencils to colour in their faces.
I can't find a great flesh tone in these pencil crayons….this is more of a yellow tone :(
Because it has been raining here so much, my second girl "Rain Girl" has hair to represent rain.
I first added some Tim Holtz faded jeans distress ink for the colour of her hair, then drew in the rain drops with the same colour in Tim Holtz distress markers.
The girls eye colour is opposite of each other…meaning, Autumn has Rain's hair colour for her eyes and Rain has Autumn's.
I am really happy with how my girls turned out….even with the skin tone not being the colour I intended.
Onto My Day:
Even though it was a rainy, stay in bed kind of day….I was thinking of putting my PJ's on and watching YouTube in bed all day…but, I had to bring the red jeep to the shop.
Ashley has had the use of it for 5 yrs and now it is Heather and Kristy's time to have it.
I brought it in the shop to make sure it is up to safety standards.
I did have to get the wheel bearings replaced on the one wheel…..so got the mechanic to do the other one as well.
He said the one didn't need to be changed right away. Then asked me "It is just driven in town right?"
I thought to myself, if it was to be driven on the highway, is it not as safe ?!?
So told him to change them both….better safe than sorry when my babies are driving.
I found a cool site through the Fauxbonichi Journalers FB page.
It will blur your words or faces in a photo.
Here is the site http://www.facepixelizer.com
I have only used it this one time…so I am not an expert.
But it took me a bit to figure out how to get my photos on the page to alter, as I am used to using http://www.picmonkey.com and love it.
I had also had trouble figuring out where my photo went once I saved it.
But I do like the effect that it gave my text and photo :)
I then used my iPhoto, Retouch in my edit program.
It may not look as nice….as my pages look like they are dirty, lol.
But it is so much easier for me to use.
I was looking for a large leaf stamp to colour on my journal pages.
I had this stamp from Inkidinkado.
I didn't really care for the circle design behind the leaf…so decided to try and remove it.
So lots of cutting and snipping.
And then more snipping and even a bit of filing.
I was happy with the outcome of all of my work :)
I really liked this page even without me colouring up this stamp.
But aren't they so much prettier with some Autumn colours :)
I used my Blick's coloured pencils and mineral spirits to blend the colours.
Onto My Day:
We have been busy getting Wayne's "Man Cave" comfy for him.
We had to replace a couple of ceiling tiles and another light cover…as he broke the last 2 trying to put them up.
His new ginormous TV came in and so did his leather reclining love seat.
Awwww he thought of me when ordering it :)
So right now we are relaxing in his room watching The Dirt and then Gold Rush…a manly thing to be doing, lol.
I am a SAHM (who never gets to stay at home) to 3 beautiful teenage daughters Ashley(born 1989) Heather(born 1991 and Kristy(born 1995).
Wife to my wonderful hubby Wayne. We have been married since 1988.
I am a bookkeeper for my husbands business.
I love to create. I dabble in all types of crafts. Jill of all trades expert in none. Right now I enjoy scrapbooking and paper crafts.
I decided to make this blog to share my creations and a bit of my crazy life.
Thanks for visiting.
