Black Belt Scrapping

Looking back on 2007

In browsing blogs over the past few days, I've seen a bunch of people put up their favorite photos of 2007. I thought I'd do that too. I had more than I thought....forgive me if I bore you with a bunch. I tried do pick them, month by month.

Happy New Year! M, Go Blue!

January - Blizzard on top of Breckenridge Colorado

February - The Ice Storm of 2007

March - Reluctant Subject

...and a new friend!

...in the barn

April - Broken Bones

May - Spring in Bloom

June - A Stroll on the Beach

Another great photo shoot......

July - Independance Day

There's nothing like Family

August - Disco Breaks Out All Over!

September - Braces

October - Halloween!



November - A Lovely Wedding

Thankful.....

December - Happy Holidays are Here!

CD Album

I'm really not fond of mini albums, but I got a wild hair the other day and created this for my friend Jan. I took some photos of two of her children last June, and they turned out great! So on Sunday as I was browsing through digi-scrap-land, I found a great kit and digital CD album template and made this while we were watching football.

I think she was pleasantly surprised! I haven't had the greatest luck in the past making albums for people, so I did have that eeency bit of hesitation, but since Jan is a scrapbooker, I knew I had nothing to worry about!

So, how did I do it? Using THIS template and THIS kit, I just dragged and dropped the papers, photos, and elements into the template for each page. Then I printed each page out at home on my photo printer, trimmed the pages, ran them through my Xyron machine to put glue on the back, and glued them on an old (no longer needed) CD. I used my Cropadile to put the holes in the CDs, then attached them with book rings and added ribbon for fun. That's all folks!

Here is the album!

Good Gifts, Bad Gifts, and Gag Gifts

So...was Santa good to you this year? Santa and his helpers were great to us again this year. We were blessed to have a Christmas with lots of laughs, lots of fun with family and friends, great food, and some pretty cool gifts. S said it was her best Christmas ever - given the appearance of a very unexpected iPod Nano under the tree.

Frankly, I thought the BEST gift under the tree this year was given to her from our friends Jason and Kris. She got this awesome book called The Daring Book for Girls. It's the companion book to The Dangerous Book for Boys....an "all you need to know guide" for preteens everywhere. Amazon describes this book as follows: "The Daring Book for Girls is the manual for everything that girls need to know—and that doesn't mean sewing buttonholes! Whether it's female heroes in history, secret note-passing skills, science projects, friendship bracelets, double dutch, cats cradle, the perfect cartwheel or the eternal mystery of what boys are thinking, this book has it all. But it's not just a guide to giggling at sleepovers—although that's included, of course! Whether readers consider themselves tomboys, girly-girls, or a little bit of both, this book is every girl's invitation to adventure." It's awesome! I can't wait to read it! Right now I've got to pry it out of her hands. She looks so grown up with her ear buds plugged into her ears and her Daring Book on her lap.

This was also the first year that we thought we'd do gag gifts. We always did gag gifts growing up and it was a hoot! A few weeks ago, the hinges on the toilet seat in her bathroom broke and so she needed a new one badly. While Christmas shopping at Lowes this past month, I picked up a new one and decided that this was the year for gag gifts, so I wrapped it and put it under the tree. On Christmas Eve we open gifts at my parents and S is allowed to take one gift from under our tree and open it over there. The size and weight was puzzling her, so she picked that one....heh! Little did she expect to be opening a toilet seat! It was hilarious (well for us it was...her, not so much!). But we told her that she'll most likely be the only kid in the fifth grade that gets a toilet seat for Christmas. Andy installed it yesterday and I've been told that it's working great...and comfy too (is that possible? It's not one of those cushioned ones.....).

And then there's bad gifts. I think we've all received some gifts in the past that have left us scratching our heads thinking, "What the %$#$%^&!". I remember receiving a purse made entirely of seashells when I was about 17. It literally weighed about 20 pounds and it wasn't exactly Kate Spade. It was so bad that bad gifts have since been referred to as "shell purses" with my parents and I. Did you get a shell purse this year? No shell purses here, but I was online last night, goofing off after our guests had left and found a thread on a message board about bad gifts. Let me tell you, these were DOOZIES. Here are a few items that people had received as gifts:

- dirty kitchen dishcloths
- Suave shampoo
- embroidered toilet paper (only the first sheet on the roll)
- a tub of Oxyclean (I LOVE the Ox...but come ON!)
- matching Mexican serapes (Niiiiice!)
- Dial soap ~ two years in a row!
- toddler underwear from the dollar store (for a third grader)
- a package of frozen broccoli spears
- condoms
- a CD of crickets chirping
- a "fart extinguisher"
- one sock
- AOL CDs (classic!)
- wire hangers from the dry cleaner
- a Winnie the Pooh toaster

These cracked me right up! Have you ever gotten a really obnoxious gift? Leave me a comment about your worst gift ever (it doesn't have to be Christmas) and I'll have S draw for a winner on Friday morning! I'll give something away that I promise won't be a shell purse.

Have a great day! If you're at the mall today....may God have mercy on your soul.

Pajama Day

I don't do it often, but this morning I declared today an official PAJAMA DAY! Really, it was just an excuse to not feel guilty about not changing out of my favorite flannel Christmas pajamas ~ the ones with the pink flamingoes wearing Santa hats and silver Airstream campers all pimped out in Chrismas lights. Tacky? Hell yeah, which is why I love them so much! I found the print on line, so you can see the tackiness for yourself! (By the way, I think that pic is a guy wearing my jammies, but if it's not, she needs a wax really badly!).

I actually did get quite a few things done this morning. I started making a few things for brunch. I washed the table linens and got them all ironed and the table prepped. I refreshed the fresh greens on the dining room table. I cleaned (again!) and did some more laundry (again!). I did some digi shopping with my gifts from some of the lovely people that I'm blessed to do a little designing for.

And while I did that, I got a wild hair and bought a CD album template from Janet Phillips and created this SMOKIN' mini CD album for somebody that I love. I swear, the best part of digital scrapping is being able to do it in the family room while watching football. The Bengals won today...I guess that's something. I figured they'd suck it up again today since they no longer had anything to play for. Anyhow, I'm dying to share this mini album with you all, but I can't do that until the gift has been given! I promise I'll post it this week. It turned out really great, and it's always fun to give a gift to somebody who isn't expecting anything. I have been burned before, however, making albums for people who just didn't appreciate it, but I know this won't be the case with this person.

So...tomorrow is Christmas Eve! I love Christmas Eve because it's our biggest singing performance of the year. It's when all of the practice finally pays off. I have to run to the store in the morning for the last minute brunch stuff (and we need milk and batteries for my annoying smoke alarms that won't stop beeping!), then S has her Nativity play at 2:30. After that, we go to my parents' house for Christmas Eve dinner and gifts, then back to church for prelude and mass. We will be home around midnight and Andy and I usually drink some "killer nog" by the tree, then crash. It's nice having a kid who likes to sleep in now, we don't have to be up at the crack of dawn to do presents anymore!

This is it for me until Christmas day late.....may all of you have the loveliest of holidays. I'm praying for way too many people these days. May they, and you, find peace, love, and hope this Christmas.

I leave you with one of my favorite songs to sing at Christmas. Maybe one of these years, our choir will finally perform it.

The Mystery Card

Yesterday we received our annual mystery card. Well, I received it, because it was addressed to me alone, like it has always has been.

Let me explain...for the last several years, I have received a photo Christmas card from two lovely people that live outside of Louisville Kentucky, and their two happy standard poodles. Their names are Charlie and Joanna (I won't list their last name).

I have no clue whatsoever who these lovely people are. None, zippo, nada. Their names are not remotely familiar. Their address is not remotely familiar. Their faces leave me drawing a blank. The only person I knew in the Louisville area moved away last summer and they were more my generation. These lovely mystery card senders appear to be in their late 60's or so. I truly have no clue whatsoever who they are. Maybe they just picked me out of the Cincinnati white pages as somebody who could use some Christmas cheer every year.

So here's to you, Charlie and Joanna....I wish you the best of the holiday season and I look forward to receiving another mystery card from you next year, at which time I'll spend another whole day scratching my head trying to figure out who you are.

Merry Christmas! May you all have a special secret Santa in your life!

Hometown Pride

It's a Wonderful World when the underdogs beat the Diva and leave her pouting on the stage!

Congratulation to Team Lachey for coming out on to of the Clash of the Choirs! Ironically, I missed the show last night because I was at choir rehearal (but I do have a DVR!). Here's a little Christmas fun from our hometown friends with one of my favorite Christmas songs!

In other Christmas related news.....I'm done shopping, almost done wrapping, and yesterday I finished up my food shopping. We are hosting brunch at noon on Christmas Day. We don't do a big fancy deal on Christmas Day anymore because everybody is already sick of holiday foods by the time Christmas day rolls around. So I'm hosting a brunch for eight of us ~ the three of us, my parents, Andy's parents, and my sister in law. On the menu (it might sound fancy, but it's not).....

Spiral Honey Glazed Ham
Grilled Pork Tenderloin sandwiches with cranberry chutney
Bacon Quiche
Broccoli Onion Quiche
Au Gratin Potatoes
Maranated Asparagus
Cranberry Relish
Mixed Green Salad
Deviled Eggs
Fruit Salad
Christmas Cookies
Pie

I like it because most of it can be made ahead of time. We sing at Midnight Mass, so we all like to sleep in and not fuss much on Christmas morning (other than opening presents, of course). It's a family tradition to have lasagna on Christmas Eve, so we're going to my parents' house for Christmas Eve before we all head to church. It's so nice now that my parents live here. I don't miss those long, boring drives to Michigan. They've been here six years already...that's hard to believe!

Anyhow, not much planned today. This evening Shannon and I are going to take the bus downtown to meet Andy for some holiday fun. We'll check out the lights, stop for a bit of holiday cheer, and go ice skating on the square. Fun!

Cinnamon Biscotti

Well, I said I'd post my biscotti recipe yesterday, but I got tied up.

Good friends of ours got married in early November and I took pics for them ~ LOTS of pics. In fact, I've got over 700 from the weekend. I promised them as a wedding gift that I'd give them a CD packed with wedding pictures, with B&W and sepia conversions, and a DVD slideshow set to music. Whew! That's a ton of work!

I've had the photos done for a while but I've been slacking on the DVD. I'm glad too, because they recently gave me more photos to put into the slide show, including their engagement trip, and their honeymoon in two different locations. I ended up with over 1300 photos to choose for the slideshow and when I got up yesterday I decided that it was the day to get it done. It took me literally all day. I started at 8am and finished last night at 11pm, with breaks for a quick trip to the library and bank, and S's violin performance last night. I'm still not quite done, but I will be soon this morning, I just have to burn the DVDs (and make cute jewel covers, of course). I really want to be able to give them their goodies on Christmas Eve! The DVD has ten different slide shows, about 1000 photos, and 12 different pieces of music! I can't wait to see it on my TV today. You gotta love Mac for stuff like this, it's makes it so easy to do really cool things with your photos.

Last night was S's first violin performance. She had been really nervous because she was chosen to be in the select strings group. Of course it went great and now she's back to normal, instead of being all twisted up with nerves. I was proud of her, she worked really hard and it paid off.

So finally, here is my biscotti recipe, compliments of Allrecipes.com. I've tweaked it a bit and added hazelnuts.

Cinnamon Biscotti

6 tbsp softened butter
2/3 C white sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1.5 tsp vanilla
2C flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp cinnamon
1/2 C chopped hazelnuts

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Sift dry ingredients and set aside.

Cream butter and sugar until well blended, then mix in eggs and vanilla. Slowly add dry ingredients and hazelnuts. If the dough is crumbly, add about a tablespoon of milk until the dough sticks together.

Separate the dough into two balls. Roll each ball into a log about 9 inches long and 1.5 inches in diameter. Put on baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Beat another egg, and brush egg over each log. Bake for 30 minutes, then remove from oven and let cool for 15 minutes. Cut logs on the diagonal, put pieces back on the baking sheet with the cut side up, and sprinkle with a mixture of cinnamon and sugar. Put biscotti back into the oven and bake for 20 more minutes. Store in an airtight container when cool.

Wrap Music

Do you like to wrap gifts? I do, and I always have. I remember being about six years old and falling in love with the process of putting pretty paper with pretty ribbons and making a box look even prettier. Over the years, I've tried to get as creative as possible, even to the extent of making my own paper and ribbons. Some of those efforts turned out fantastic, others...well, not so much.

I still love to wrap gifts, however, almost as much as I like to give gifts. Today was wrapping day. I should be at taekwondo class right now, but it took me four HOURS to wrap my gifts and I didn't make it. For me, they have to be colorful, sparkly, and just plain fun. No duplicates are allowed, of course. This year I had some really great double sided paper, so I even made some coordinating paper ribbons. If I get motivated, I'll make some gift tags, but at this point, it's not highly likely. Anyhow, I think it's fun, even if it does take me hours. I draw the line at wrapping my own gifts now, but I've done it in the past. I still have a few items to arrive in the mail, but those are small and easy.

I might also make some ornaments to put on my "handmade" tree in the dining room. Each year I make a few out of pretty papers and scrap supplies to put on that tree, mainly with photos.

So much for the WRAP, now on to the MUSIC.

Are you watching Clash of the Chiors? As a choir member myself and part of a musical family, I'm watching. As I was watching Ginger's man, Nick Lachey tour his hometown and my home city Cincinnati last night, I was kind of bumming that I didn't even think to try out. Can you imagine being in NYC at Christmas and singing with Nick Lachey? What a Christmas to remember. Of course, Ginger would never forgive me if I got to spend a week with NL.

My friend Greg's coworker is the big black man from Cincinnati who was featured last night along with his daughter. It was really fun to sit there and say "Hey, there's Greg's friend!". That was cool. I was also pretty amazed that Blake Shelton, the cute country singer from Oklahoma, said that he doesn't read music! Is that even possible for a recording artist? WOW!

So how did I think they all did last night? Well, I'd love to say that I thought the Cincinnati gang was the best, but I give that crown to Patty LaBelle's group from Philly. I'm a sucker for great gospel music and they really brought it! My pics are 1) Patty LaBelle - Philly 2) Nick Lachey - Cincinnati 3) Kelly Rowland - Houston 4) Blake Shelton - OKC and bring up the rear 5) Michael Bolton - New Haven Conn. Seriously, the only group I didn't think was very good was the group from New Haven, but then again, I don't care much for Michael Bolton either. I hope the Cinci gang sticks around....I tried to vote but couldn't get through, so I gave up and went to bed.

That's it for today. I'm off to bake more biscotti....it's my latest thing. I'll post the recipe tomorrow. It's great for gifts!

New Collab....

Just thought I'd post a layout that I finished in the wee hours of the morning last night. I hope in the light of day (if you can call it light out...it's such a dark and dreary day!) that it looks okay.

Amy Hutchinson, Two Sisters Designs, and ONDesigns have done this fantastic collab kit that just went up for sale and it's awesome. There are so many papers in it, and great elements.

Anyhow, I took these photos at my scrap sale of my friends Jan and Susan, who was awesome enough to drive all the way from northern Indiana to come and visit! We had such fun! I've been waiting for the right motivation and papers to come along to scrap about it, and now TADA....it's done!

I've got more layout to put up this coming week, so if you like seeing them, stay tuned!

Now, back to our regularly scheduled, NFL-watching-in-front-of-the-fireplace-with-a-pot-of-white-chicken-chili-on-the-stove-while-the-weather-outside-is-frightful Sunday afternoon.

I am a Schmuck

Meet the mom who turned down sixth row seats to the Hannah Montana concert (at face value) because she felt that she couldn't miss choir rehearsal. I went to practice and was told what an idiot I was. I feel really bad now. Oh well. Next time I'll be better about grabbing a good opportunity when it becomes available. Sorry kid.

Sorry for the lack of update....there just hasn't been much to write about!