12 Days of Christmas - Day 4 - 5 Layouts

Here are Days 4 and 5

Day 4

Day 5

12 Days of Christmas - Day 1 - 3 Layouts

Here are the first 3 completed layouts from the 12 Days of Christmas.

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

12 Days of Christmas - Day 12

Today's teacher is Big Picture Classes fearless leader and my scrapbooking guru, Stacy Julian.

Photo Prompt: 
You'll need one vertical 4" x 6" picture and up to four additional 2" x 2" pictures, so take a bunch and we'll make your pictures work!

Gather the following supplies:

• one 8 1/2" x 11" sheet of cardstock that will coordinate with your new pajamas or other articles of clothing. If you have lots of color going on, go with a neutral color. If you scrapbook 12" x 12" layouts and are not able to try an 8 1/2" x 11" page on for size, then you'll need a 12" x 12" sheet of cardstock!
• two 6" x 6" pieces of white cardstock
• one 6" x 6" page protector
• one full package of letter stickers that will coordinate with your new pajamas. I'm using Thickers from American Crafts, because I love the dimension that they provide.
• one additional package (can be a partial package) of letter stickers that will coordinate, but also provide some contrast in either size, pattern or color!
• adhesive
• three red mini brads.
• long scraps of cardstock in the colors found in the pajamas. You'll also need a scrap of green! Note: we're going to be cutting thin paper strips. One or more of these scraps could be tone on tone patterns, like stripes or dots.
• an assortment of seven or eight mini-brads in these same colors
• one 4" piece of coordinating ribbon
• one circle tag or circular shaped embellishment
  
  
  

  

  
  

12 Days of Christmas - Day 11

Today's teacher is Georgana Hall.  I've decided to use some older photos instead of new ones.


Photo Prompt: 
Take photos of your stockings displayed in your home or with your children holding them - I did both! If you want to make a layout just like mine, you'll need three 4" x 6" photos (one portrait oriented and two landscape oriented).

Instead of photos of our stockings, I decided to go with some photos from 2009, when Bug-A-Boo met the greatest Santa ever!


Gather the following supplies:

• one green stripe 12" x 12" paper
• one green polka dot 12" x 12" paper 
• scraps of red patterned papers
• red baker's twine 
• border sticker 
• alphabet stickers
  
  
  
  
  

  

  
  

12 Days of Christmas-Day 10

Today is about the process of buying and wrapping the gifts of the holiday and how much fun you can have with all the fun materials.  The teacher is Wendy Smedley and this is one of my favorite Christmas things.  All of the gifts under the tree.  The final product of all the shopping and wrapping...so fun!

Photo Prompt: 

Your assignment is two-fold:

1. Take a photo of your wrapped presents and your stash of wrapping paper, or someone wrapping presents. I used one landscape oriented 4" x 6" photo which I trimmed down slightly to about 3" x 6". 
2. Gather small scraps of your favorite wrapping paper and trim to place in your supply envelope.

I decided to use a photo from 2010 that I was able to acquire when I purchased a photo package when Sydney met Santa.  This is probably one of her favorite photos ever!  Santa...BUSTED!


Gather the following additional supplies:

• blue 12" x 12" cardstock 
• plain chipboard 7 Gypsies alphabet letters 
• red Cosmo Cricket mini letter stickers 
• eight to ten 1 1/2" chipboard squares 
  
  
  
  
  

12 Days of Christmas-Day 9

Nic Howard is the teacher today and the lesson is going to be one of my favorites. Photo Prompt:  When you start baking for this festive season, don't forget to snap pictures during the process. Whether it's a favourite batch of cookies or other treats, you could take pictures of the baking process, the finished treats, perhaps even the clean-up! Don't forget to take photos of your little helpers if you have some giving you a hand in the kitchen, you'll need three 6" x 4" photos for the layout you will create! Every year since Prince Charming and I were married I (we) have made a themed cake at Christmas.  Also, in the grand tradition of the Queen Mum (my mother) I bake a boat load of cookies. Christmas cakes past: 2004 - Our first cake 2005 2007 - I took 2006 off since I was pregnant and started again with the Yule cake in 2007. 2009 - It looks like I took 2008 off as well. 2010 - First cake with Bug-A-Boo's help Now that we have Bug-A-Boo, and she is old enough, one of her favorite things is making the cookies and cake.  It is so much fun! Gather the following supplies: one sheet black cardstock one sheet white cardstock one sheet kraft cardstock one small piece of red patterned paper or cardstock one small piece of light green patterned paper one small piece of mixed red/green patterned paper four red brads small white alphabet baker's twine in red - or alternative inks - optional for shading/distressing

12 Days of Christmas - Day 8

Today's teacher is Elizabeth Dillow and I love this assignment.  Today it is all about books.  We love books and at this time of the year we have so much fun with books. 

When my brother and I were kids my mom started us a Christmas book collection.  Every year she would buy us each a new Christmas book.  She has now carried the tradition on to Bug-A-Boo and has gotten her a new Christmas book for the last 4 years.  Last year she gave us the chance to go through all the books and take which ones we wanted.  

I decided that a great way to "distribute" the books would be to use them as an advent countdown.  Every year I wrap us 25 books and write a number 1-25 on them.  Each night before from December 1-25 Bug-A-Boo gets to pick out the package with the appropriate number and that is the book we read at bedtime.  It has become a wonderful tradition.

Photo Prompt: 
Take a picture of all your favorite Christmas books together or just one special favorite. If you would like to create a layout just like mine, take a photo that can be cropped square. Mine is about 4" x 4", but really any size photo will do.

Gather the following supplies:

• one 12" x 12" sheet of Christmas/winter-themed patterned paper 
• one sheet or partial sheet of solid cardstock — white or something that coordinates with patterned paper
• chipboard letters or letter stickers for title
• three Christmas/winter-themed embellishments 
• journaling pen and/or access to a computer/printer
• your favorite adhesive + foam adhesive, optional
  
  
  
  
  

12 Days of Christmas - Day 7

Today's teacher is the very talented designer, Amy Tangerine.


Photo Prompt: 
Take a photo of either the gifts you buy or where you shopped. Your photo(s) can really be in any size and orientation. I am going to use two photos on my layout that are both 2" x 3" (one portrait and one landscape oriented).

I try to avoid shopping in the "stores" as much as humanly possible.  I hate shopping and I hate it even more at this time of the year.  I do 95% of my Holiday shopping online and of that 95%, 75% is done at Amazon.com.

Gather the following supplies:

• one 12" x 12" sheet of patterned paper or cardstock
• two or three 12" strips of coordinating patterned paper or wide ribbon
• stickers including alphabet stickers
• office tags 
• Washi tapes
• adhesive
• rub-ons
• sequin trim, buttons, square punch, hand sewing needle and thread (optional) 
  
  
  I've decided to once again hold off on gathering the supplies until I receive the instructions for the layout.  

"Go To" Casserole Recipes

I am a member of MOMS Club in Hilliard and a lot of times a mom will be in need of a little help when it comes to a meal.  A new baby, an illness or some other need will arise and I'll volunteer to take a meal to the family.  So many people I know do this for friends, family and neighbors.  A lot of times we run out of ideas.  Here are two of my "go to" recipes for these types of situations.  These are family friendly and quick and easy to make.  They are also great for potluck parties.

CHICKEN CORDON BLEU CASSEROLE
Prep Time:  10 minutes, Total Time:  35 minutes, Serves:  6

1 cup of Reduced Fat Sour Cream
1-1/2 cups Reduced Sodium Chicken Broth
1 Tbsp. Dijon Mustard
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
1-1/2 cups Instant Rice, uncooked
1 pkg (20oz) fully cooked frozen diced grilled chicken breast, thawed
4-1/2 oz. deli thin sliced smoked ham, cut into pieces
1 pkg (6oz) sliced aged swiss cheese, cut into pieces
1 cup frozen peas (optional)
1 cup corn flakes, crushed
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp butter, melted

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Whisk together sour cream, chicken broth, dijon mustard and black pepper in a large bowl until smooth.  Add rice, chicken, ham, swiss cheese and frozen peas; stir to combine.

Pour mixture into a 13 x 9 baking dish (or foil pan) and spread evenly.

Mix together crushed corn flakes, parmesan cheese and melted butter in a small bowl.  Sprinkle evenly over top of the casserole.

Bake uncovered on center oven rack for 25 minutes until heated through and topping is golden brown.

TATER TOT CASSEROLE

1lb ground beef
1 pkg (16oz) frozen tater tots
1 bag (2 cups) shredded cheddar cheese
1 can of cream of chicken soup
1 bag (16 oz) frozen mixed vegetables

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Brown ground beef and drain.  Mix ingredients and place in casserole dish.

Bake for 1 hour.

12 Days of Christmas - Day 6

Today's teacher is Kelly Purkey and today's assignment is a little overwhelming to me so I'm going to put it on hold and do it later.

Photo Prompt: 
Have someone take a photo of you-or take a self-portrait-at a Holiday party! This doesn't have to be any kind of fancy, dressy party… it can be a get together with family or just a big dinner that you have during the holidays. There's always a good excuse to celebrate during the month of December, right?

I think I may have some pictures that my friend took of me at a recent holiday party I had.  I guess I could use those.

Gather the following supplies:

• three 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" photos
• one patterned paper for the background
• a small piece of gray cardstock 
• spray mist 
• clear embossing powder
• silver embossing powder
• embossing gun
• embossing pad 
• black StazOn ink
• snowflake stamps 
• letter stickers 
• Washi tape
• buttons 
• pen
• vellum
• stapler
• memorabilia like menus, place cards, invites, recipes (or a second piece of patterned paper)
  
  
  Most of the things on this list are items that I will gather as I do the assigned page.   I don't have a lot of the things like clear embossing powder and silver embossing powder.  I have some other kinds of embossing powder.  I also don't have a snowflake stamp or Washi tape (not even sure what that is).  Anyway this should be an interesting page to say the least.  I plan on improvising.

12 Days of Christmas -Day 5

The teacher today is Tami Morrison and this is a pretty fun assignment.

Photo Prompt: 
Your assignment today is to choose a lyric or title from a favorite holiday song and keep it in mind during your December festivities, snapping two photos to illustrate it. You'll need one 4" x 6" horizontal photo, and one 3" x 4" vertical photo.

Here are just a few examples to get your sleigh bells jingling…I hope your ideas snowball from here!

• Baby it's cold outside - snow photos, people bundled up
• Voices singing let's be jolly - caroling 
• Hip hip hooray for Christmas vacation - kids enjoying their school break
• It's Christmas time in the city - decorations around your town
• Have a cup of cheer - cocoa, eggnog, or your favorite Starbucks holiday beverage
  
  
  
  
  
  I chose to use this series of photos from a family photo session back in 2008.  I will be using the lyric, "Christmas is the time to say, I Love You" from the Billy Squire song. 
  
  
  
  

  Gather the following supplies:

  • one sheet of patterned paper 
  • two sheets of coordinating cardstock 
  • two 1/2" x 10 1/2" strips of coordinating patterned paper 
  • enough coordinating alphabet stickers to spell out your song lyric (a mix of sizes and colors is okay) 
  • one coordinating button 
  • tissue paper in a coordinating color (feel free to grab whatever you've got left over from gift wrapping!)
    
    
    
    
    
    I'm curious how the tissue paper will be used.  Stay tuned.

12 Days of Christmas - Day 4

Today's teacher is Lisa Day and the holiday tradition we're talking about today is decorating the house for Christmas.

Photo Prompt: 
I'd like for you to take or gather photos of your home decorated for the holiday. This can be pictures of your house right now, a collection of photos over the years, or even pictures of your childhood home decorated for Christmas. Look for photo's that give an overall feeling of Christmas as well as some detailed shots. You'll need photos in the following sizes: one 3" x 5", two 2" x 3", one 3" x 2" and two 2" x 2".

Gather the following supplies:

• 12" x 12" sheet of patterned paper 
• 9" x 9" piece of patterned paper
• 1/4" x 9" piece of patterned paper 
• 1/2" x 9" piece of patterned paper 
• 2 3/4" x 2" piece of patterned paper
• three strips of 4" x 3/4" patterned paper, ribbon or Washi tape - I used Basic Grey Paper Lace Ribbon White
• one index journaling card 
• one sentiment sticker
• four buttons 
• small alphabet stickers 
• 1" alphabet stickers
• embroidery floss
• sewing machine or needle
• border punch
  
  
  
  
  

12 Days of Christmas - Day 3

Today is all about writing our letters to Santa. 

Photo Prompt: 
My prompt for you for today is to capture your child writing his/her letter to Santa.  Make sure to take several (a lot!) photos while your child's writing it. In the end, take a photo of your kid holding the letter and one of just the letter. 

Bug-A-Boo is only 4, she can't write so I went to my old photos again and found these adorable photos (these are 2 of the photos from a series of 4) from her first Christmas wearing the most adorable reindeer bib and bow.

Gather the following supplies:

• four 2" x 3" photos (you can alter as you wish, but I used four 2" x 3" images)
• one sheet of 12" x 12" Bazzill white cardstock 
• three sheets of patterned paper. 
• matching ribbon (long enough to go all around the edge of your paper.) 
• three different alphas, two nomal sized and one tiny. 
• two different-sized punches. 
• You can also add some journaling spots.
• I stitched on my layout but this is optional, too.
  
  
  
  
  
  I love this color combo of pink, blue and green.

12 Days Christmas - Day 2

This morning I woke up to an email from today's teacher, May Flaum.  I took May's CampScrap class in June of 2010 and I really love her teaching style and her scrapbooking style.

Today's assignment is all about the Christmas Tree and the traditions around it.   Here are May's instructions:

Photo Prompt: For photos, I suggest taking some action shots of ornaments being placed on the tree, use your camera's self-timer if needed! If you're doing it at night though, I suggest doing a "in front of the tree" family photo the next day instead. The quality will be much better and you can let your story do the talking. If you do choose night photos, turn off the flash! Let those beautiful twinkling lights provide atmosphere and mood to your photos. They won't be as sharp, but they'll have a glowing quality. Just be sure to set your camera down on a hard surface so that your photos are as crisp as possible (less shaking!)What else to photograph? Taking photos of favorite ornaments and sharing their story is another great option, but depending on if you've already scrapbooked this in the past or not, you may prefer skipping that. If you do this, use good natural light and get real up close. Other fun photo ops? Lay down and take a picture looking up at the people decorating the tree, take a photo of the ornaments in their boxes, or take a shot with your back to the Christmas tree. What's going on all around it?

I chose older photos again.  These photos are from Bug-A-Boo's first Christmas and her very first experience with a Christmas Tree.

Gather the following supplies:

• two 4" x 6" photos (mine are portrait oriented)
• sheet of kraft cardstock 
• sheet of polka dot or small pattern colored paper
• 1", 2", and 1 1/2" wide strips of patterned paper (Christmas) that coordinate
• journaling card 
• letter stickers 
• two to three embellishments (chipboard shapes, stickers, etc.)
  
  
  
  
  
  Can't wait to do this page!

12 Days of Christmas - Day 1

Today was the first day of Big Picture Classes, 12 Days of Christmas class.  The teacher for Day 1 is the very talented Darci Dowdle.  I have taken two of Darci's classes in the past, Baker's Dozen and Decorate Life! (featured on this blog).  12 Days of Christmas is set up like both of these classes and I am so excited to get to work.


The photo prompt today is:  Today you are going to take one holiday family photo and later you'll use it to create a layout you'll cherish in your album instead of just sending it to friends.  


Instead of a family photo (which I have tons of) and instead of adding a new photo to my already large number of photos I decided to go with a photo that was taken recently and I am excited to scrap.

Michelle, Tracy, Heather, Tara and me.  My "Village"!

This is a photo of me and four of my best friends.  They are my "mommy village" so to speak.  These women are such a force of strength, love and friendship for me and Bug-A-Boo and I definitely could not have made it this far in my "stay-at-home-mom" career without them. 


Since friends are as important to me as family I knew this was the perfect photo to start this class with.  It is an added bonus that this photo was taken at a recent holiday party that I threw for all of our families.


The supplies for today are:

• one 5" x 7" (horizontal) photo
• one piece of white 12" x 12" cardstock
• three pieces of holiday patterned paper
• one piece of 12" skinny ribbon
• a few (3 or 4) holiday buttons or stickers 
• one 12" holiday trim - sticker or ribbon 
• 1" hole punch
  
  
  
  
  
  On December 25th I'll receive a handout in the classroom that will give me instructions for putting these supplies/image to use!

  
  

  I can't wait to see how they will come together!