November 365 2014

How fast did the month go??  Of course things are going into high gear now with Christmas around the corner!

The Elf Is Back!

He's baaaaackk!!

Back from the North Pole to report whats going on to Santa.

Wonder where we'll find him getting into this year??

Thanksgiving 2014

Thanksgiving is all about family and food.  Thankful for both.  We set things up a little differently this year, with all the food in the kitchen set up as buffet style.  Why we didn't think of that sooner is beyond me. 

Joe did a wonderful job carving the turkey, that I forgot to get a picture of before he carved it.

At our house there's always pasta and meatballs served.

Tried almost a little of everything, while trying to be good.

Even the puppies got a taste of the turkey.

Afterwards, there was a lot of laughs with the photo booth props.

Gianna loves mustaches.  I tell her that grows old quick when she gets older.  She'll understand then. LOL!  ;)

They were a hit!  A good way to kill time until we could eat more. ;)

I have to ask permission for pictures of Marissa.  She grants me a few so I try to make it as painless as possible for us both.  Teenagers. 

It was a good day....with leftovers for days!

Thanksgiving Prep 2014

Ah yes. Thanksgiving is upon us and it starts with a trip to the store for last minute supplies.  Of course, seeing Marty McFly park in the no parking zone is totally normal, right??

The light snowfall we got makes the house look pretty.  Still not a fan of snow, except for at Christmas.  

My favorite part is baking the apple pies.  Layers upon layers of yummy goodness.

Of course, I recruit everyone into helping in one way or another.  Gianna is a master pot stirrer.

I recently became a fan of cranberry sauce these last few years and decided to try making it myself.  Turns out, it's super simple!  Also, sorta fun to hear the cranberries pop.  

Pulled together a few extra treats as a side dish to the pie. ;)

Last but not least, I set out all the pots I needed.  Just to make sure I wouldn't forget anything, I used sticky notes to label them! LOL!!

Call me crazy but it makes my day go smoother. ;)

My 1st Vinyl Project!

CONFESSION: I have been scared to work with vinyl on my Silhouette.  Yep. Chicken.  I would say I'd learn, buy some supplies, then get involved in easier things.  Possibly avoiding it on purpose.

This year I was determined to learn it.  I researched Pinterest for tutorials and slowly built up my courage.  A friend on IG, JenBoom gave me the push I needed to do it.  

I made time to conquer this silly fear of mine.

The result?  WHAT WAS I WAITING FOR???  It's way easier than I thought it would be!  I made this project for myself and right away knew what to give my sister's for Christmas!

 

Wanted to play around with different versions, that way we'd all have something similar yet unique.

I didn't realize this frame was a teensy bit bigger so I had to add the white border to the paper background.

I loved how they turned out and need to find more things to vinyl!!!

Sweater Girls

I am one of those people that would dress up their dogs with bows and sweaters.  Joe was never a fan.

While he was away on a business trip, I saw some cute sweaters for the puppies and couldn't resist.  You know what they say "The mice will play when the cat's away".  

Besides it was pretty cold out already for November so I figured they *NEED* them!

Riley however was not impressed.

You can't resist the cuteness of puppies in sweaters!

At least I can't!

Paint and Wine

Tonight was a much needed Girls Night Out. It's been too long since our last one and we made this one fun.

We had a nice dinner then headed to an art studio for an art class. 

Here we are Michelangelo, Pablo Picasso and Van Gogh, you can decide who's who. 

The teacher lead us step by step with instructions. Wine was involved so it made the results pretty interesting. 

It was a fun night, full of laughter and future masterpieces!

Miss You Daddy

20 years ago today my daddy passed away from lung cancer. He was a loving, yet tough father and I wouldn't change it for the world. 

Found this picture of us for a birthday of mine,(Not sure how old I was.). I was sitting on my daddy's lap with my mom next to us holding my sister on her lap. My father loved us more than anything. He was everything to our family, and life's never been the same since he died. 

Wish we had more than 19 years together. 

Wish he could have walked me down the aisle. 

Wish he could have seen his amazing 7 grandkids. 

Wish he was still here. 

Miss you always. Love you forever. 

Project Life 2014 Albums

So the other night I finished working on our June Disney trip. Angels sang, and I may have seen a rainbow. Aaaaaaaaahhhh!!!

With that my first album was full, as in FULL. 

There was no way I could leave it that way, never mind that it weighed a ton. I had bought 3 albums for this year knowing we had 2 Disney trips planned and thought that would be good, but now I'm thinking I might have to order another. This does not make me happy. 

That pile on the right is just our June trip. Just June!!  I'm going to start the second album with it and see what happens. I'm almost scared to do our AUGUST trip! Hopefully I can make things less bulky but I don't think that's the real problem, so who knows how it'll go. 

On the flip side, I love how my pages came out.  I included a lot of inserts and got Marissa's "approval". Seeing her face as she flipped through the pages makes it all worth it! Now to make it light enough for her to pick up! 

Thanksgiving Spirit 2.0

Back again with the completed projects from my last post.  

Made these place cards with a print and cut file found in the Silhouette store. Then I printed everyone's names on a sheet of labels and ran those through my cameo as well. I just won't mention how long it took me to get the name placement right.  

I think they turned out cute. The best part is they were simple and a nice break from Project Life. 

Going through Pinterest I got the idea to do a photobooth for Thanksgiving this year. 

I got these cute props from THIS site and THIS site, printed them out and then hand cut them. My darling assistant, Gianna, stuck the sticks to them. I simply stuck them in a vase and they're ready to go. 

Just need to make a backdrop of some sort now, and see who plays along on Thanksgiving!! 

Thanksgiving Spirit

With Halloween all packed up and gone, I've been focusing on Thanksgiving. Trying to not jump the fun on Christmas like I want to but have more of a Thanksgiving presence. 

I've been pinning all sorts of ideas for turkey day. Some easy and some not so much. 

Today I decided to create new place cards. It's been a few years since I made the last ones and we've added some people to the mix since then. It was time.  Not that we're formal type people, I just wanted to make them. 

Found these cute print and cut shapes in the Silhouette shop and got to work. 

Also printed some print and cut photo booth style shapes, that should be fun. 

Now if only I hadn't thrown out those fall leaves garland yesterday....

Piper's Gotcha Day

Today marks one year since we brought Piper home. 

She's grown into a gorgeous, and loving dog. She likes to think she's the alpha dog in our pack. 

 

She was so tiny when she first came home and had the cutest white "tutu" around her tush, which has since disappeared. 

She's been Riley's BFF from the start.

And we love her.