Gingerbread

Twice, we've been baking gingerbread so far this month, and I suppose we will have to make it once more before Christmas Eve, if there's even a slight chance that there will be enough. You see, the three other people of my family all love gingerbread, and for the moment, we are having a "stay-at-home dad", and that's bad. The gingerbread jar gets emptied very fast because of that.

But that's OK. We love making them, so we're happy anyway, the kids and I.

Here's a layout I made with papers from the Nook December kit, using a sketch from the awesome challenge blog Challenge Me Happy. I LOVE that kit, it's so perfect for scrapping photos of all the preparations we make for Christmas.

Oh, and speking of preparations, right now I'm busy preparing a class for after Chistmas, so if you are local, and interested in learning how to make houses like I make them, stay tuned for more info!

A great day!

Today is a great day. Not only did I have the best of days at work, I've also got some alone time at home, and finally managed to catch up on some photo editing and design team blogging. I still have a pretty hard time with photography, because it's so darn dark all the time! For these photos I've used my external flash, and bounced it against the ceiling. It will have to make do, but I can't wait for brighter times to come. Or, I might just need to get a lightbox of some sort.

Anyway, like I said, it's been a great day at work. I've finished up my grading, and we've wrapped up the courses for this term. Now there is a week of fun stuff ahead, and next Thursday, it's time for a well deserved Christmas break, part of which I will use to scrap, because I've deserved that :)

Speaking of Christmas, here's a few things I've made with my last DT-kit from Scraplagret. First of all, I made a few ornaments from old wooden spools.

 And here's a Christmas card.

And now I'm so done blogging for one day! I'm going to dive into my paper piles again and do something creative.

Have a great evening, and a fabulous weekend.

How about some Echo Park?

The thing I really hate about this time of the year is that it's virtually impossible to take good photos of layouts and cards. By now, it gets dark around 4 in the afternoon, and that's about when I leave work, and after picking up the kids and finally getting home, it's pitch black outside! There's absolutely no light, and photography business have to wait until the weekends, when I'm home during the day. But that is no guarantee that there will be enough light. Some days, the sun doesn't seem to be around at all, and all there is is a vary faint light that barely finds it's way through the windows that are still fairly dirty since the last storm passed by (I had just cleaned them! I was so mad!)

Anyway, I try to make do with my external flash and a cupcake liner, so I've managed to get a couple of half-decent shots this evening, of two layouts using the November kit from My Scrapbook Nook featuring Echo Park's LOVELY Times and Seasons. What's not to love about Echo Park?

The first one is about my sweet boy, and the second one is of my girlie, giving her little cousin a farewell hug before he took off with his family to the US. This is such a darling photo, and I've had it printed on my desk since August, trying to find papers to match the somewhat difficult colors of it. When the Nook kit landed, it turned out to be perfect for the task.

So, how are you all doing with your Christmas preparations? I thought I had it all pretty well covered a couple of weeks ago, when the kids were sick and we had to stay at home for a few days. I almost caught up with all the work that was overdue here. However, this place is once more a mess, and between all the grading I'm trying to get done at work, and all activities involving the kids (it's Lucia-time, with all the commotion that comes with it) I don't know how I'm going to be done. However, so what if the windows are still dirty after the storm? You won't notice since it's so darn dark all the time! I didn't send out tons of handmade Christmas cards last year, and guess what? Nobody died! I think I'll just stop here, light a candle and enjoy what Advent is all about - waiting, not wearing yourself out. Right?

I know I won't be able to do just that, though. I'm too deeply rooted in the traditions not to have my whole house spick and span in time for Christmas Eve. But I'm sure as h*** not cleaning the windows again!

In a Christmas mood

Tomorrow is the first of Advent. Wow, what on earth happened to this autumn? Where did November go so fast? I haven't even felt a touch of the usual November dreariness, although last week was very dark and dull. I spent most of that week at home with my sick little ones. To tell the truth, I haven't been feeling all that well either, we've had a rather bad cold which has surely taken its toll on oss. Anyway, tomorrow is the first of Advent, and I've got both my houses ready for it, with bright white stars in every window, wreaths on the doors and white hyacinths in cups and bowls here and there. It's the first year ever I have two houses to decorate, and even though it's tons of fun, I still wish there was only one house, and that we were settled in the farmhouse  instead of going back and forth between the houses, realising that the one thing you need when you're in one house is in the other one.

Still, tonight I'm sitting in front of a nicely sparkling fire in the farmhouse, listening to some wonderful Christmas music by Tommy Körberg (he has the most magnificent voice there is) and really getting in the mood. And while I'm in the mood, I thought I'd show you something a little bit Christmassy - a way to upcycle a dead plant to a decoration for Christmas.

I'm by no means a gardening wiz. Quite the contrary, I kill every plant I get in my hands, or onto my windowsill, that is. Like this olive tree. When the last leaf fell, and I realized that it probably hadn't got any water for at least a month, a little idea came to me. Why not make something funny out of it instead of throwing it away? So, I painted the whole tree white, put it in a wooden spool and sprayed it with Glimmer Mist Pearl to make it shimmer like a vampire in sunlight (yeah, I saw Breaking Dawn last night) Then I decorated it with snowflakes punched out of Graphic 45 papers and a chipboard sign, and now I can still keep it on my windowsill even though it's dead. Pretty nice, huh?

So, now I can keep killing plants without feeling bad about it... LOL. Everything I used (except for the tree itself) can be found at Scraplagret.

So, if you're in a Christmas mood too, and are working on your Christmas cards, why not checking out the ongoing Christmas card sketch challenge at the Riddersholm blog. This card is from this week's sketch.

 Just go here to find the sketch and to upload your card.

Have a very nice Saturday evening, and the very best first of Advent, everybody! Myself, I'll be spending tomorrow watching the kids taking swimming lessons, to start with. Then we will go out and have a Christmas meal with P's parents, and since it's also P's 40th birtday, there's all the more reason to celebrate.

A Christmas tag

Good evening, everyone!

Thank heavens it's Friday, at last. I've had a busy, a bit scary, but great week at work, with a really bad cold, a concert that I had to get out of because it was too loud to my infected ears, a parent-teacher conference after hours, a day in Kristianstad at the course in entrepreneurial teaching I'm taking (totally fun, but I got home way later than usual). Add an almost non-existing voice in trying to make oneself heard in a classroom with twenty-or-so teenagers, and some sleep deprivation to that ("someone" snoring, kids running around at night making noise and not putting out lamps after them etc) and there you have me now, Friday night, ready to tip over on the couch. Exhausted. Wishing the day had more hours. Wishing the weekend had more days, for that matter. And wishing my head didn't feel like it was about to burst. And the scary part of the week - let's not even go there.

Still, I'm trying to work up the energy (chocolate works, at least for a while) to write a short post here on the blog today, showing you a little Christmas tag I made last week, with supplies from Scraplagret.

The papers are Graphic 45 Christmas Emporium (yeah, I know, the first G45 stuff posted here in ages... I still love G45 to bits, I just haven't had the courage to work with their stuff since I failed so miserably in trying to get on their DT for a second round)

Here's the back of the tag. See that snowflake? I got that punch in my DT kit from Scraplagret, and I LOVE it! You can connect the snowflakes into garlands, but I think they are adorable using like this too, one at a time.

There. Now I'm off to fix something to eat. The kids ordered tacos tonight, so that's what we're getting. Spicy enough for me to feel the taste!

Happy Friday, everyone!

Christmas is closing in on us

And it's moving fast... I've no idea if I'm going to have time to make enough Christmas cards to send out to people this year, or if I will have to do like last year, and buy some. Anyway, this is a little box I altered using papers from the wonderful Christmas collection The Day Before from Riddersholm Design. I LOVE this collecrion.

In the little bubble on top of the lid, I have decorated with miniature Christmas trees, also made from patterned paper, and a whole lot of glitter.

So, that's it for today. We're preparing for a new school/work week, if my daughter is feeling OK tomorrow morning, that is. She has a sore throat and she is coughing a little, poor girl, but hopefully she will feel a lot better in the morning.

Happy Sunday night, everyone! I will be spending it in front of the TV watching the True Talent final (Exciting, that one) and folding sheet music stars for the Christmas tree.

Glitz Mini Album

Hi everyone!

Today I've been bustling around, blogging on every blog I'm supposed to, and now the time has come to do something about my own blog. I changed the header this morning - it's about time, the old one has been tagging along for quite some time now.

*edit* I changed the entire design while I was at it... I'd grown so tired of the old, all white one. Please, let me know what you think, OK?

I have a envelope album for you today, with the most adorable papers from Glitz - Vintage Blue, which I got from Scraplagret to create with. Oh, how I adore these papers! Just look at the toile pattern on the cover! I'd like to wallpaper my bedroom in that!

Here's a closeup on the front cover. The big blue flowes are diecut with Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die, and then I've rubbed them from the back with a stylus.

I love how this collection comes with coordinating trims - like this one with pom poms on the ends. It's super cute!

 I've covered all the envelopes in different patterned papers from the collection

 and then I have decorated the pages with coordinating stickers.

Have a very nice saturday evening, everyone!