Last night was bunko. I feel very lucky to be a part of this group. I didn't know most of these ladies before I joined, but they welcomed me into their group, and I have had a great time with them ever since. So it was appropriate that the game was on the day that the picture prompt was JOY. They gave me a bit of a hard time about them fulfilling that picture, but it was all in jest.

The picture prompt for December 1st was to take a Welcome to December picture of the family. The problem with that is that we weren't all home (and awake) at the same time. So I made do, and took pictures of each family member that was home--the dogs. :)

I think this layout turned out quite good. And I like to include these guys in the pictures--they are certainly a large part of our life.



You may have noticed that the final product (and even this isn't quite--I added another picture) is a bit different from the original. That's because I have a tendency to keep tweaking things. It's just who I am. :)

I am very excited. The next assignment is to get our album started. The thought is, if the album is done, minus pictures and journaling, it will be a lot easier to put together. My plan is to complete a layout the day after I've taken pictures and done my journaling. Some of the journaling I may start now, but we'll see.

Jessica gave us some awesome products to use in our books:



But I am also using some other products for my book. I want the feel to be the same, so the products are complimentary:







The last three kit images are linked to the respective designers' websites. I am all about free, so that is where we are going with this album.

Here are my first layouts. The rest will look much like these. I am leaning towards two page layouts, but if I only need one, I'm not going to worry about it.

Today is the day for some serious consideration. Do I want this album to be all digital (well, that's a no-brainer! Of course I do.), hybrid, or all hands on paper-stuff? Do I want it to be 8x8 or 12x12? I am going to design it as a 12x12, but probably print it as an 8x8. I need to come up with the actual alb... Actually, I have the perfect 8x8 album. It is covered in a red velvet that just screams Christmas. So there you go. :)

Jessica has given us an awesome sketch/template (depending on how you are doing your book). It is so extremely customizable, and you can flip it, turn it, rearrange it to come up with many, many, many different layouts. Here is an example of one:



There are also some awesome journaling tags and date stickers included. I am very excited about how the album is going to turn out. I've already started looking at a variety of kits to use for this album. We will have to see which I choose!

Polly prints the prompt cards precisely...say that 10 times fast! So the assignment today was to actually get those cards printed! Yesterday I was messing around with the cards in PSE, but it was taking a long time to get the colors I wanted exactly right.

So I slept on it.

This morning I had a flybaby moment: I was trying to be a perfectionist and create the perfect product. These are prompts, for goodness sake! These aren't the finished product, they are a tool to help us create the finished product. And they are beautiful with the colors they have, even if I am thinking of a final album of completely different colors. And they actually fit my decor, which is good because they are going to be displayed on my desk.



So, I printed them. The only thing I changed was the size they printed at. Because finances are so tight, I am in a "use what you have" state of mind, and I had 32 pieces of white cardstock that are 6 3/4" x 9". I printed them on that. I am still deciding what I am going to display them on, but they are printed. And some of them even have writing on them (for example, Dec 10 is Steven's concert--so that is written in that day's do section).

Woohoo! I am keeping up and not letting my perfectionism get the best of me!

I've been crocheting like crazy, and while it has been fun, for the most part it takes a while to finish a project. And I still have to finish a gorgeous berry colored blanket that I'm making before Christmas. But, I can't resist adding some other, less time-intensive, crafts to my holiday season. There are some fun looking ones that Jessica has suggested, but nothing is really striking my fancy. I did look at one for decorated tubes for cookies (because I need something to package my 15 DOZEN cookie swap cookies in!), and I got sidetracked by this. I am totally making these pet tags for my dogs for Christmas! They are so cute and so easy...

So to make:

• Dog tags


• Cool Box Bag - I think this will work great for my cookie swap cookies! I need to get working on these, though...the swap is Dec 12


• Christmas Cards


• Christmas Cookies - we will be making lots because we give cookies to neighbors each year. Plus my mom takes them to work, and dont forget the cookie swap I am participating in.


• Helping Steven with presents made out of duct tape. I am liking the pink flamingo purse.


• I'm probably making some Tea Jelly to round out my jelly making this fall.


• And I have to make Divinity. It is my absolute favorite. I'd never made it before, just eaten other people's creations. When I started working in the bakery, another girl and I tried it (a huge batch) and it was awesome! And now that I don't work there, it is an absolute necessity for me to make it at home.

Ahhh...I don't want to be overwhelmed by things to do in December, but I want to do things! This is my life. :)

Here are some activities I know we will be doing:

• Holiday Concert - Steven is in both the regular band and the jazz band at school, so we will be attending his concert (and taking pictures!)


• Christmas Cookie Swap - this is a girlfriend get-together, but it is still a fun activity that warrants pictures--especially since I will be with my girlfriends!


• Cookie-Making - to participate in a cookie swap means you must make cookies! This is fun, because we all get involved (even hubby comes in and "steals" cookies as we are making them. *this may qualify as a 'make' rather than a do.


• Watch Christmas movies - this is something we always do as a family, and sometimes we invite other people to enjoy them with us. White Christmas is our Christmas Eve movie.


• Make and Assemble Teacher Gifts - Steven has 8 classes at school, although 2 of them are with the same teacher. That means 7 Teacher Gifts. We've already decided we are making cocoa kits with homemade peppermint marshmallows.


• Look at Christmas lights - this is something we didn't do last year, but it really is one of my favorite things to do. I think part of why we didn't do it is that I was working in the bakery so I was in bed early. Now that I am a freelance writer, I can stay up later than I did, so we can go after dinner.


• Attend our local Festival of Trees - This is actually coming up: Dec 4-5. It's fun to see how everyone has decorated the trees, and it's fun to bid on them, even though we are always outbid.

That's it for now. But it really is quite a lot, so I can get my prompt cards filled out!