Month: November 2012

I had to sneak in some time with my new seasonal distress stains before company arrives… I’ll be back with lots more with those stains next week. Hope you’re having a great day!

CONGRATS ROXANNE F! You’ve won – I emailed you about claiming your prize…

My friends at Martha Stewart Crafts want to help make this holiday season a handcrafted one! I have all you see above here boxed and ready to send to one of you lovely blog readers! If you’d like the chance to win, please leave a comment here. Winner to be drawn randomly this Sunday night and notified via email. I’m thankful for wonderful companies who want to share with my blog readers, as well as my lovely blog readers who come and visit me each week!

I will be crafting with these products here on my blog as well – I am so ready to dive into holiday season 2012 fully!

Time sure is flying by! Feels like I just had a Tuesday come and go… alright well big congrats to Joanne R who won the kid’s book give-away! I’ve emailed you so you can claim your prize.

I’m currently packing up any/all holiday packages I have to send, the goal *was* by tomorrow, but I don’t have all the pieces to mail just yet. That is OK! I will take what I do have down to the post office tomorrow (my third visit there within a week!) and then have everything ready for when that last order arrives that allows me to finish my mailing. Am I early? Why yes my dears, I sure am. You see, I’ve got enough work, not to mention fun family stuff planned in December to prevent me from getting gifts mailed out on time. So, years ago I started the tradition of shopping + mailing early! Less stress (in theory), and a much quieter December for me. No long lines at the post office or worrying things won’t arrive in time for me.

Now, if I could just apply the same discipline to my laundry…

Ah well, it is one day, one task at a time and hopefully this week will be filled with good family times AND I will be able to scrapbook a layout to share here. True story: It’s now been FIVE weeks since I made  scrapbook layout. This is the longest I’ve gone, quite possibly since I got married back in 2002. I’m serious! That’s ok – my craftiness has just been more project based. Gift wrapping to tags and cards and such. So creativity is here – and I’m letting it out in whatever ways work into my wild and ever-changing schedule for now. Embracing that journey and enjoying the ride…

It’s MONDAY once again!! This week, I’m back over at the Simon Says blog with some glittered inspiration in my holiday series! You can check that out here.

I also have a SPECIAL offer just for my blog readers! It’s a limited deal – here it is: For the first 25 people to make a $25 purchase (or more) and enter code MSGOLDG when they check out, Simon will send  Free Martha Stewart White Gold Glitter with the order! The rules are that it must be a $25 or more purchase, you must enter the code and be one of the first 25 people to use the coupon code, and this offer is good until November 30 or while supplies last * Limit one per customer.

Want more seasonal fun? Join us in a “thanks” challenge this week at Simon Says Stamp and Show. Above you can see my card – I just used distress ink (and my beloved blueprint stamp!) all topped off with a bit of rock candy crackle to make a card of thanks for someone special. If there’s one thing I know – here in the USA this week is CRAZY enough with all the turkey and pumpkin and comfort food goodness and more family time than probably most of us ever wanted. HAHA! I say – if you can get any crafting time in that is a great thing!

Supply list:

I encourage you to head over to visit Simon Says Stamp & Show to see all of the other creations and to enter! Everyone is taking time in this week’s challenge to find a way to express thanks creatively. LOVE THAT! This week’s prize (as always) is a $50 voucher to Simon Says Stamp! The winner is randomly drawn – you can enter by posting to your blog, flickr, or other site too. See the blog for entry details and rules.

 

 

One week until Thanksgiving. For those of us in the USA, we all know Thanksgiving also serves as a kind of a mark that the holiday season is WIDE open and VERY MUCH upon us.

Where did the first half of November go?

I am a bit overwhelmed at the moment. Ok, more than a bit. I’m at that stage where you start feeling paralyzed because no matter what you do there is still so much so where do you even look or start or….  THAT IS OK! I’ve got a plan. I’ve cut EVERYTHING except “eat right” from my priorities list as of yesterday. I’m taking care of the 1910384 tiny things that are cluttering my space and my mind. Getting my desk clear, and those packages that arrived back when I was in Disneyland put away. Getting my Christmas photo ordered  to insert into family cards and being TOTALLY OK with just using a vacation photo and not trying to stage a fancy new one.

That is just the beginning. Laundry mountains. Random “it’ll only take a minute” jobs. Clearing out closets. Just generally de-cluttering the heck out of my to-do list and home in general and man. It’s good. My hope is that on Monday I’ll wake up without any of this “emergency!” to-do list and be back to the usual level of madness. If the paralyzing “it is all TOO MUCH!” happens to you ever (and come on, it happens to all real people!) I recommend playing hooky from work for a day, or just otherwise putting everything possible onto emergency hold and taking it one small piece at a time. No fun time, no sitting around chatting on the phone or watching TV (unless you’re multi-tasking!) – just nose to the grindstone get things back in order hard work, sweat, and determination.

One of the things, of course, that got ditched as I embarked on this mission was blogging. But I couldn’t help sneaking on here as I sip my morning coffee and tell you where I’m disappearing to for the weekend!

I will be back on Monday with a new project, and if things go according to the general plan, MANY projects including the announcement of what date Camp Scrap: Christmas Edition will start!!!! (FREE!)

Note: Big Picture is doing the twelve days of Christmas class again – this is a re-run so if you missed it last year here is your chance! I keep meaning to remind my blog readers about this fun class – if you want to do more holiday scrapbooking and didn’t take it last year – I recommend checking it out!

Now, to tackle my studio floor…

PS: if you have tips, tricks, etc. for what to do when you’re overwhelmed – feel free to share them!