Kim's layout - Family Traditions

This week is all about Christmas and what it means to you. To me it means family traditions.

For as long as I can remember, one of our traditions is for the whole family to get together on Christmas Eve. Each year a different family member would host the gathering. To an outsider looking through the window, this gather may resemble chaos. Just people every where. Kids and grow-ups alike, sitting on the floor playing games, Christmas music playing from the stereo, Christmas movies playing on the television. The meal for this gathering is potluck, so you may have someone eating tacos, while the person next to them is chowing down on pizza.

At midnight, we all gather in front of the Christmas tree and we get to open the gifts we bought for each other. Every year we do it in a different sequence. One year it's the oldest to the youngest, the next year it is the youngest to the oldest. It never matters what order we go in, it always seems that I am in the middle.

One year we managed to get a group photo. This photo is extremely special to me, because there are several people in this photo that are no longer with us. I am so glad that we were able to get this group photo. Maybe I'll try and take another one this year. Here is my layout about "What Christmas means to me":

Family Traditions


I used lots of Bo-Bunny on this layout. All items came from an older Swirlydoos kit.

It's your turn to tell us "What Christmas means to you". Post those layouts, we have a wonderful RAK just waiting on someone.

Thanks for stopping by. Happy Holidays!!

Kim

Jenifer's Christmas Spirit Post



This weeks topic is
The Christmas Spirit

and what it means to you.

I would definitely have to say as most of us would that Christmas is much different as an adult than it was a child for sure. Now instead of spending the whole month of December in a euphoric trance waiting for Santa and wondering what will be in sack for you, you spend the whole month of December trying create this same  feeling you experienced as a child for your own children. We go through great lengths to keep the integrity of Santa, Elves, his Reindeer and the whole myth alive for our children. But I cannot say I mind at all I love watching how happy it makes them and seeing my own face in theirs as that joyful much anticipated day draws closer.

We start our Christmas traditions the weekend before Thanksgiving actually. We like to transform the house into Santa land, lol. This is a huge job, lol I think it took us 8 hours this year, lol. We pack away everything in the living room and dinning room and put  out our many Holiday items instead. We even put up 2 trees. The one in the dinning room is reserved to look more elegant and the one in the living room is for all of our modge podge of ornaments we've collected over the years along with all the treasured items the kids have made us over the years in school. We leave the tree in the living room empty with only lights on it and on Thanksgiving day when the whole family is here, we let the kids decorate it.  The kids really enjoy this and the grandparents really appreciate being a part of the kids holiday traditions as they don't get to do this with own children anymore. The kids love all their pretty holiday things out for the month. I love to walk into the living room and see one of them fiddling some of the decor. Never fails whether it be a snow globe they are shaking vigorously or changing the numbers on the how many days til Christmas countdowns we have.

On Christmas Eve the kids and I spend the day cooking and baking away, we make platters and platters of holiday cookies. Oh I can just smell gingerbread men just talking about it. Anyway we put the cookies and milk out for Santa as most people do and the kids wake up the next morning and usually find Santa's ball off the end of his hat lying near the platter of cookies....lol. We always try to think of little details like that to keep the spirit alive.

I hope one day they will have the opportunity to make these kind of memories with their own children and pass down stories of their own favorite holidays and traditions from when they were small. It's not about material things or how many gifts you get but about the lasting memories you make.

This is my take on this week's challenge. It's a layout of me stringing lights on the tree.

I used Riddersholm's I Believe and The Day Before Collections for this page. I misted the doily behind the photo and cut out the center. The sentiment is from Bo Bunny's Father Christmas collection and the flowers are Prima. I used some filler I found from my local craft store, in the holiday section behind the flowers to make them look more dramatic. The cherub is actually just a cheapie Christmas decoration that I was dying to add on a page, lol and this one happened to be perfect!

Don't forget to link your take on this weeks challenge for your opportunity to win Sarinda's handmade necklace she so generously donated as this week's RAK!

Holiday Season to be jolly

Hi All! This week's theme is about Christmas spirit. I don't celebrate Christmas here but the joy of Christmas is always felt since it is celebrated at the end of the year and that means its a holiday season here!! Even though I don't celebrate it, it's one of the most joyous occasion to celebrate in my part of the world. You need to come to see and believe it! Everywhere is decorated with Christmas trees or themes. And the reason I love this is it also means the holiday season is coming and mostly people are traveling out from the city to be with their loved ones on a trip or just going back to their hometowns to meet their parents.

Since its a holiday season, it also a popular month for couples to tie the knot. Seems that arranging and coordinating wedding things are easier to be done during the holiday , I guess.
So, I want to share a card today..not a layout as usual, which I did to celebrate this holiday season. I hope you like it!
Materials used for this card:
Base card: Bazzil Basics
Patterned paper: Prima
Glitter stickles: Ranger
Stamp: Hero Arts
Ink: Ranger
Do join us this week and show off your creations on this week's theme! It's very simple by clicking on the Mr Linky tool on the side bar and insert your blog address for us to view your creations!
And don't forget that we are also offering a delicious RAK especially designed by our very own DT Sarinda. It's a homemade glass pendant and it's definitely one of a kind!
Join us and let's have fun!
-Nida-

Christmas Spirit Challenge by Nanette

Christmas is being together with family and friends and to enjoy yourself. This is not always easy because there is always a lot of pressure. There should be great food and great company and no sad faces.....
This layout shows that we really have fun at Christmas time.

This layout is made with a photo I took a few years ago of my hubby, eldest daughter and my mum. They were doing silly with the reindeer hats. I copied the photo once in a seperate layoer and converted the photo to black and white. Then I erased the reindeer parts again on the top layer (the black and white one), so that the red emerged again on the photo. That's all. I used photoshop elements for this trick.

I used green and christmas test paper of We R Memorykeepers (Merry and bright Scrapbooking Pad), Websters Pages Vellum & Diecut kit sheet and a journalling card from Webster's 'Waiting for Santa', Joycraft Diecut Design Paper Christmas, Maya road snowflake, smooth ink red and silver, Websterers Plorettes Princess Petals, glitter flowers from my local store, Glitz Red Pompons.

Thanks for stopping by!
And don't forget to enter our challenge in order to win the great RAK!!!!

Christmas Spirit

For me, Christmas is all about Family and friends. I love the season; it brings together people who haven't seen each other for perhaps the entire year. I love to scrap book Christmas events and family traditions.

Here I have scrapped a layout using old photos of my family from the early 1950's. I used vintage inspired materials and chose a layout that the small original photos would not get lost on. I looove Christmas and I wish you and yours all the best this holiday season! Happy scrapping :)

Brenna

Christmas Spirit Challenge.

Welcome to our new challenge for this December month: 

Christmas Spirit Challenge

What does Christmas mean to you? Do you like to shop for the perfect gift, do you study weeks to make perfect Christmas food, is it about gathering with your friends or family or is it the spiritual side of Christmas? Scrap it and share it with our on Scrap Yourself.

This challenge will run for 3 weeks. The best entry will win a fabulous prize, sponsored by our own DT member Sarinda. 


Wear glass jewelry to make a statement at a party, or for a quiet evening of elegant dining. Pendants are kiln formed glass, fired in a kiln, hand beveled and polished on a 16" ball chain. Each piece is one of a kind.

The winner will get both pendants! One for you and one to give. 

The true Christmas Spirit

This pendant is handmade by Sarinda. She is a glas artist. This pendant is great on a necklace, but you could also use it on a scrapbook project! The choice is yours.

If you want to see more of here great work, check out Reflective Art Studio.


We will show you our 'Christmas Spirit' layouts the next few days. So please return for  more inspiration! Enter your creations by using Mr Linky on the right.


Happy Scrapping!!!

Change the World... Sarinda's Layout

So I will be Brief on this topic.... and obviously this is not real money.....!!!

As we all know money makes our world go round. Right? I do believe to ask that our society go back to a place of bartering is naive. So with this I have made a commitment to knowing where the money I spend goes to. Does it help a local farmer keep his/her local farm.... Etc...
Cheers and a warm thank you.
Sarinda

Change the World - Kristin's Layout

Happy Thursday everyone.  Today's prompt really spoke to me. Two of my passions are women's rights and the political system.  In tackling a subject like 'Change the World', I really wanted to write something that meant a little bit more to me than your every day journaling. I've also decided that I'm going to try to follow through with this a little bit more on each of my layouts; writing journaling that comes from a deep place inside both my heart and my head.

Here is my layout:

Thank you very much for stopping by. You can also see my work at www.rukristin.blogspot.com; thanks so much.

Kim layout

How would I change the world?

Hey guys sorry I'm so late posting.

This was a very difficult topic for me. I say that because I feel so passionately about a lot of things I would like to change in the world. There is the homeless problem, good affordable healthcare, pay for school teachers.....my list goes on and on.

All that said, my answer to How would I change the world? By making it more beautiful. Here is my layout expressing that. It is full of florals, flourishes, butterflies and soft colors. I think there is great beauty all around us, we just need to really just open our eyes and look for it.

As for my layout, here is what the journaling says:

If I could change the world.

What would I do if I could change the world? There are a lot
of things in the world that I think need changing, but one of the
things I would do is make the world more beautiful.

Yes, there are other things, which in the grand scheme of life
that may seem more important. However, think about how you feel when you
are surrounded by the beauty of nature.

It would be my hopes that in making the world more beautiful, the
good feelings would permeate all through mankind. It may sound kind of
simple, but I think it would be hard to be unkind to one another when surrounded
by Great Beauty.

For my layout I used paper from Pink Paislee and G45
Flowers by Kaisercraft and Prima
Wooden butterfly by Kaisercraft
Flourish by Zva
Chicken wire by Dusty attic

Thanks for looking. Remember the challenge goes through next week. Let's see how you would change the world.

Kim