December Daily Pages 1-5

Yesterday it was cold, rainy, sleety, snowy, and just plain yucky! But I got a lot of things caught up around the house and in the craft room, YAY!

If you're not familiar with a December Daily album, head on over to www.aliedwards.com, www.elizabethkartchner.com, or www.amytangerine.blogspot.com and check out they're amazing albums!  Basically, you document the daily events, tasks, activities, etc. that go on during the month of December.  It doesn't even have to be holiday related, or super exciting, just an account of the days of your life that lead up to Christmas.  This is my first DD, so I'm super excited about this new project!


Here are the first 5 pages (and cover) of my December Daily Album...

Here's the cover...I used a plastic overlay from Hambly Screenprints so the inside could peak through.

This is Day 1 (Dec. 1st).  This is the page that is under the plastic overlay (front cover).  I tucked all the Instax photos inside the cute little vellum pocket :)

 Day 2 and 3

and Day 4 and 5

Most of the products I used came from the December Daily add-on from last month's Studio Calico November kit.  I'm pretty sure they're all sold out, but if you go to www.scrapbook.com you can find Ali Edwards December Daily printables for sale.  

I hope this inspires you to make your own December Daily, even if it's just a notepad or journal filled with your own handwritten notes, no scrapping necessary!

Have a great day!

a new place to play

Jubal and I worked all weekend long on the basement.  We got a TON accomplished...he also fixed my broken dresser, wobbly toilet, and broken closet doors!  I honestly didn't think he would be so driven to get this stuff done, but for some reason he was (the fit I threw on Friday might have had something to do with it ;)

I still have a few more decorative touches to add and few other items to place (they'll receive those for Christmas so some things will have to be rearranged), but here's how the playroom turned out...

Now they have a lot more room than they did before and I can add more storage pieces as needed.

Here's a pic of the family room area...

I still haven't found the "perfect" couch yet, but I broke out the crazy, decorative pillows anyway :)

 These pillows came from Pier 1 and the green throw came from West Elm, as well as the pillows in the picture below.  I'm still patiently waiting on my new area rug (it won't be in until January).

The family room area is not quite what I've had in mind these last few months, but it'll do for now.

All in all, I really like the area flip-flopping we did down here and the rest will fall into place as it's supposed to eventually.  I'm thankful for all the help my husband gave me, I know this kind of stuff is not his cup o' tea, but he was a real trooper this weekend :)

Hope everyone is having a happy Monday!

a little progress

For me last week was like getting in your car, driving all the way to the store, spending an hour filling up an empty shopping cart with two whiny kids, and then realizing you forgot your wallet when you reached the checkout lane...um, yeah...it wasn't good.

Yesterday, however, I FINALLY received my brand new Kenmore Elite washer and dryer (insert squeal and happy dance here ;)  I've been waiting a month for this people!

 

Not black...blackberry

They stood there watching that thing for over 30 minutes!  

(You can really see the purple-y color in this pic.)

Last night and this morning the hubs and I started attacking the basement.  I've had shelves, tables, chairs, and playroom decor in boxes for months now.  I was waiting for the new paint and staircase to be completed first but, for reasons I couldn't control, we had to put the paint and steps on hold...at least for now.  So I decided to just do what I was going to do anyway, new paint or not!  

 The kids jumped right in on the new table with attached paper roll while Jubal and I assembled the shelves.  BTW...the table, chairs, and shelf came from LandofNod.com.  The quality and prices are amazing!  

This is what Garrison ("Mr. I hate art class") drew and stamped.  I teared up a little on this one :)

I will post more pics of the playroom on Monday because I still have some arranging to do.  I'm also three days behind on my December Daily album, so I'm hoping to do some catching up on that, too!  For more info on the December Daily album, check out this blog www.aliedwards.com, it's super cool!

this n' that

Crazy things have been happening to me lately....good and bad...so today's post is just a mish mash of things I haven't had time to think about until now :)

My first yarn letter..."A" for Avery.  I got the idea on Pinterest :)  

This project took a lot longer than I expected, but I like how it turned out.

I'm working on a "J" for Jubal right now, but it's giving me fits...the "G" will probably be tricky, too!

Avery finally got to meet her new cousin, Maria.  It was love at first sight ;)

Avery at Crate and Barrel (a first for us both!).  She made herself right at home on a blue

velvet chaise lounge chair...I can already tell she has expensive taste!

And this is another new addition to our family!  

My younger brother got this adorable red healer pup for my Dad yesterday.  Her name is Heidi :)

The kids are thrilled!  And I'm thrilled we have two new lovely ladies that I can spoil and then send back home!  Ha!

Happy Wednesday!

a little turkey

My Thanksgiving was not a traditional one (as far as our family Thanksgiving traditions go) but it was definitely the best one I've had in a long time!  Garrison (my oldest) and I got to spend some time with my sister, her husband, and their new bundle of joy in the hospital for turkey dinner yesterday...

Maria, Garrison, and me

Turkey dinner, Yum!

We're a happy bunch!

This is what it's all about, folks...

I hope everyone had a safe and happy Thanksgiving :)

introducing...

We have a new addition to the family...

This is my beautiful new niece, Maria Rose.  She was born on 11-21-11 at 7:47 p.m. weighing 6 lbs. 10 oz. and was 20 1/2 inches long.  She is a little bundle of blessings!

 We got to ride in the elevator with her to the nursery :)

 She's perfect!

Just look at those little piggies!

Sadly, due to an unexpected emergency c-section, I didn't get a chance to hold her so I'll be making another trip over there real soon.  I can hardly stand it!

Congratulations to my sister Melissa and her husband Jeff on their new arrival!  Maria Rose is a lucky little girl with a wonderful and loving family.  

karma?

Wow!  These past few days have been a whirlwind of crazy, amazing, scary, busy, and uncontrollable circumstances!  And I'm not exaggerating in the least. Here's a quick rundown...

Sunday - prepare bathroom for suspended ceiling installation which meant moving EVERYTHING into my craft room while I'm working on about five different projects :( ,shower handle breaks off in our main level bathroom

Monday - got the baby call at 6:00 a.m. from my sister and her husband in St. Louis, travel there with my parents to meet my new niece, waited patiently for baby to arrive, baby arrives via emergency c-section at 7:47 p.m.  Mama Mel and baby Maria Rose are doing great!

Tuesday - grocery store run, flooring store run, deliver laundry to my mom's, bathroom ceiling installation completed, spend ALL day cleaning every square inch of the bathroom (ceiling tiles are super messy!), prepare to move everything back into the bathroom, hubby decides to fix shower handle in main level bathroom, instead of fixing the handle he causes a MAJOR water leak in the house causing the main level bathroom and the basement bathroom to flood...yes, the one with the new suspended ceiling that was just installed only hours beforehand...if anything else goes wrong around here I'll be getting and address change.

Today - Have no running water, all the kids are home for Thanksgiving break, and tomorrow's Thanksgiving

I sincerely hope everyone else's week is going a little more smoothly then mine...although I'm still counting my blessings and thankful for so much this Thanksgiving ;)

I will post baby pics soon!  I would've posted flood pics, but I was too busy crying my eyes out and creating my own flood!