Post-Thanksgiving and Final Gobble Up

I hope your Thanksgiving, if you're here in the US, was full of good food and laughter with family and friends.  If you're not in the US, I hope your Thursday was just a good.

We hosted the in-laws with turkey and the trimmings.  Naturally, there were a couple recipes from Pinterest to round out some of our traditional dishes.  We had these Crescent Rolls and they were awesome.  Soft, fluffy and great the next morning for breakfast sandwiches.  I had to add another 1/2 cup of flour and cooked at 350 instead; probably has something to do with our altitude.  I also cooked up this Indiana Sugar Cream Pie to go with the traditional pumpkin pie.  I didn't know what to think of it when I came across it, but it was awesome and so easy to assemble.  Next time I might do cinnamon on top instead of nutmeg - or a combo of the two.

I'm not much for the Black Friday Shop-a-palooza, or the insanity they created this year with shopping on Thursday night.  Nope.  Instead I'll craft on my day-after.  And you, for your final day for Gobbling Up stash, your inspiration comes from Wendi Robinson.  She created this card with the November '13 All Year Cheer Card Kit.

In keeping things simple this week you can use the inspiration to create a card, maybe get a jump on some holiday cards.  Or maybe dig out some older Christmas papers for a layout.  Use the basic design of the card and put photos where the circles are.  Or just change up the colors to create a card for another event.

Share your link in the comments and earn an entry into the November drawing.  Remember, even one finished and shared link earns you a spot in the drawing.  More completed projects means more entries, and, well, more completed projects. ;)

We're looking at a quiet weekend with good weather to, hopefully, get decorations up on the house - that's the 5 y.o.'s goal anyway.

Happy Friday,

30 Days of Thankful - Day 27

Grateful for spectacular sunrises.

If you're participating, please post a link to your photos; I'd love to see them.  If you're posting to Instagram, leave your ID.  I'm posting to Instagram (#30daysofgratitude, #30daysofthankful.)

Be Thankful.

Battling Croup and Gobble Up

Croup.  We hate it.  We hate the sound of it, never more so than when it rears its head at 3:00 in the morning.  We hate that it makes us sit outside in the cold air.  We hate that it makes breathing something you have to keep an eye/ear on.  We think it needs to leave.  We think it needs to leave NOW.

Yesterday, I thought for sure we'd end up in the ER early in the morning; the 5 y.o. sounded terrible in the early evening so I started to mentally prep myself.  When he woke way-to-early-in-the-morning, after calming him down to get a good listen, we opted to head out to the back porch to suck in some cold air, which did the trick.  For now anyway.  

While sitting on a forgot-to-take-it-in cooler, him wrapped in a fleece blanket, me in my robe and slippers, we looked at all the stars.  So bright and white in the early pre-dawn.  Even the moon, crescent though it was, shone brightly.  It was a crisp almost-winter black velvet night.  Quite.  Peaceful, except for the raspy breathing in my ear.  To pass the time, I brought up my Google Sky app and we checked out the constellations and planets would could see.  Slowly his breathing settled down and we eventually went in to crash on a chair so I could listen to him for a while longer.

I've got pies and my sweet potatoes to whip up today, so I see Motrin (for my stiff-slept-in-a-chair neck pain) and coffee to keep me jittery enough not to fall asleep over my mixer.  You get to go play with some supplies, if you've got the time between your own food prep.

I said this week's inspiration would be simple so that it made creating during this Thanksgiving week quick and easy.  This card may be simple, but it's beautiful.  I found it via Pinterest and that led me to Split Coast Stampers' gallery; the creator was lisaadd.  If you need to create a couple cards to either send out, or take with you, this one would do the trick.  She's punched (or diecut) her branch and leaves, but you can free-hand draw the branch and then use cardstock or even small-patterned paper scraps for the leaves.  Shoot even hand-cut leaves from a patterned paper. Create a layout by putting a photo, or photos, directly beneath the branch - just make the scale a little larger to fit the size of your page.  How cute would this be with a family photo and then framed - maybe total size of 5x7?  This card, like yesterday's, would make a great place card.

Share your link in the comments and earn an entry into the November drawing.  Remember, even one finished and shared link earns you a spot in the drawing.  More completed projects means more entries, and, well, more completed projects. ;)

I won't post a challenge tomorrow - but check back on Friday. :)

Happy Wednesday,

30 Days of Thankful - Day 26

Grateful for coffee after a night of battling croup.

If you're participating, please post a link to your photos; I'd love to see them.  If you're posting to Instagram, leave your ID.  I'm posting to Instagram (#30daysofgratitude, #30daysofthankful.)

Be Thankful.

30 Days of Thankful - Days 22 - 25

Grateful for artists.

Grateful for seeing faith living on.

Grateful for family night on the ice.

Grateful for family movie night.

Be Thankful.

Weekly Recap and Gobble Up

Another productive week for me, which is feeling good.  I try not to look at the overwhelming, need-to-be-shoveled-out spaces as I'm cruising around doing purges in other rooms.

Looking for an interesting thing to do while munching on turkey?  Draw the US and put in the states, which is what we did over dinner a week ago.  It came up as a result of something seen on Facebook and led to the people around the table thinking they could do it.  Most of them got all 50 states - their placement, well. . .everyone agreed they knew where they should have been.  Pretty hilarious nonetheless.  My 16 y.o. daughter attended an Av's game with a friend; she was in heaven - ice rink, hockey players, her favorite sport AND her Blackhawks.  We enjoyed quite evenings after homework with a ban iPods.  A quick snowfall provided pretty views and something to play in.  While we waited to be served on Saturday, Santa drawings have replaced Halloween pumpkins on kid menus.  Everyone (except the photo taker) hit the ice, literally and figuratively, on Saturday night for a family skate-fest (SO's included.)  With the all the kids off this week, Monday night became popcorn and movie night.

After an up and down night with the 5 y.o. and a bout of croup, I'm not quite firing on all cylinders this morning.  This week, because of the US holiday, we'll keep our creations simple by starting with this Thanksgiving card found on Pinterest, which led me to Scrapbooking24/7.

I love the simplicity of the card. A few scraps of coordinating paper, a sentiment and a button - the wheat is stamped, but punches work, so would any little embellishment like a couple small leaves.  This could be translated to a simple layout as well, just add the photos to the white space above.  It would also make great place cards for your Thanksgiving table.

Share your link in the comments and earn an entry into the November drawing.  Remember, even one finished and shared link earns you a spot in the drawing.  More completed projects means more entries, and, well, more completed projects. ;)

Happy Tuesday,

30 Days of Thankful - Day 21

Today was the 5 y.o.'s turn:  he's thankful for snow . . . in any amount.

If you're participating, please post a link to your photos; I'd love to see them.  If you're posting to Instagram, leave your ID.  I'm posting to Instagram (#30daysofgratitude, #30daysofthankful.)

Be Thankful.

Realization, Food and Gobble Up

I'm not sure what prompted the thought this morning while I was getting ready, or why it was such a shock - I birthed these people after all - but I suddenly realized I have a soon-to-be 17 y.o. in the house!  17!  It's a couple more months until her birthday, but . . . 17!  That led me to the fact that the 15 y.o. starts driving school this weekend.  Which marched me down the path to the 13 y.o. - I have three teenagers in this house where toddlers wandered around, in what feels like, just yesterday.  Pop the 5 y.o. into the mix, where I usually do a lot of math on where his siblings will be when he's x-years old and which sibling will still be in the house when this or that happens for him.  It's not a good way to start a morning.  Especially a morning dawning cold and snowy - which is usually a mood-lifter for me because these days are cozy, clean, bake or craft kinda days.

I cooked and baked a lot this week and had a couple recipes come from Pinterest.  This was one of my first pins and it was touted as a Chick-Fil-A Nugget knock-off.  We love Chick-Fil-A; it's a regular stop for us after Saturday Mass.  I'm not sure it's an exact knock-off, maybe a little more pepper, but they were really good; insides were moist, outsides were crispy.  I think peanut oil is a must.  I doubled the recipe and it still wasn't enough for my family of six.  This is a fairly quick recipe to cook up, however, the chicken needs to soak for a couple hours in the milk mixture before you start frying.  

This Kielbasa and Apple casserole was really good as well and makes quite a bit; I fed eight and had left overs.  I might brown the sausage slices next time just because I like that crispy-edged flavor.  I also mixed up Homemade Pancake Mix.  They came out light and fluffy.  I added some vanilla to mine because that's how we roll.  It makes up a nice sized batch and will probably get us through two or three Sunday breakfasts.  

Any of these would be good options for nights where you and your scrapbook supplies have plans.  Even the chicken nuggets because they're really good warm, but they're equally good cooled-down. 

We don't have a lot of plans this weekend - the 15 y.o.'s driving school is both days, all day - like 8:00 am to 4:00 pm.  But I have my list of things I'd like to get to before my charity pick-up comes on Monday.  And with Thanksgiving next week, and me hosting the in-laws, I'll start searching my recipes for a couple new-to-the-table items.

Part of my plans have me continuing to tackled "the pit," so there's some hope that I can play with crafts a little, but you've got today's Gobble Up to get you started for the coming weekend.  I found this layout from October Afternoon, which had me thinking about paper. . .paper that's hard for you to use.  Maybe it's large graphics, like the big polka dots here that become a background layer.  Or maybe it's lined or ledger-style paper, which is almost like a neutral paper here.  There's quite a few punched shapes that are layered with other embellishments or make up flags, which is a good way to add more weight to small embellishments, but is also good for busier paper designs.  Today find some of those papers that you have difficulty using and then use them!

Share your link in the comments and earn an entry into the November drawing. 

Happy Friday,

30 Days of Thankful - Day 20

Grateful for my drive home, which is always something different.  This time it was Mr. Coyote.

If you're participating, please post a link to your photos; I'd love to see them.  If you're posting to Instagram, leave your ID.  I'm posting to Instagram (#30daysofgratitude, #30daysofthankful.)

Be Thankful.

Snow, Ice and Gobble Up

What happens when cold air from Canada mixes with moist air from the south?  A freakin' cold day here in Colorado that involves snow and ice.  Not a bad thing to look at from your front room window.  From the ice-skating rink that is the road, yeah, then not so much fun.  Bundled up my boys - well one boy had his Av's hat, mittens and "fat coat."  The other boy, yeah, a hoodie sweatshirt.  Dude?!  Slid them to school.  Slid around town and headed home to tackle more from my to-do lists as I continue through my 4 Week Home Organizing challenges.  I'm loving the feeling of productivity and getting through small projects each day that make up a larger project for the week.

You need to feel that accomplished feeling, too - so let's get you today's Gobble Up challenge.  A search on Pinterest and this layout caught my eye, which led me to the Distress to Impress blog.  Now, it's not really my style of scrapbooking - a bit bulky and distressed for me - however, I can totally appreciate it and can use it for today's inspiration:  use something that's difficult for you.  

For me it can sometimes be hard for me to use non-traditional elements, like fabrics or beads or even some metals, etc.  This layout could help you use up a diecut paper (in place of the large circle).  Or fabric, like the layer behind the photo.  Or grouping leaves and buttons or brads in place of the twig pick around the photo.  Or maybe you have some embossed papers, which is the border strip to the left of the photo and a layer under the photo - it's been torn and inked.  There's even some mini alphas under the photo.

Share your link in the comments and earn an entry into the November drawing. 

Happy Thursday,

30 Days of Thankful - Day 19

Grateful for this boy and his dog.

If you're participating, please post a link to your photos; I'd love to see them.  If you're posting to Instagram, leave your ID.  I'm posting to Instagram (#30daysofgratitude, #30daysofthankful.)

Be Thankful.

Parenting Reflection and Gobble Up

When you're a new parent your biggest concern is your baby rolling off the bed while you watch from just too far away to catch her.  Or tumbling down the stairs when they start to explore them - again just out of your reach.  As they get bigger you worry about them minding you, biting other kids, being pushy (figuratively and literally).  Then they get bigger still and you think, well they haven't fallen down the stairs lately.  Or they haven't bitten anyone in ages.  And you shelve the idea that they will ever listen to you.  You start to relax . . . a little . . . because let's face it, you never relax again after having kids.  And then you realize that their being bigger just means you have bigger issues to deal with.  And they can't all be solved by taking something away or grounding them or just giving them a hug.  

It sucks . . . this navigating your children towards adulthood.  It's heart-breaking.   It's terrifying.  It's exhausting.  It's hard to watch them struggle.  There is no difference between then and now, really, in the falling - this time it's just figuratively and the consequences can be more than just a bump.  But now, there's no rushing to scoop them up, there are no gates to prevent another fall.  The hugs and kisses don't work their magic like they used to.  Now, you have to watch them get up on their own.  The getting up has to be all them.  But when they do (while you cheer and/or pray like crazy), pride fills your soul and you think, "maybe I am doing something right."  Of course, then it's the next kids turn.

Thanksgiving (in the US) is approaching, so I thought today's Gobble Up inspiration should come from a Thanksgiving layout, that we can thankfully use our stash on.  I found this one on Pinterest which led me to LiveLoveLaughGrowFamily's photo album.  

Today I was looking for something you could use up some embellishments on - sometimes we have odd amounts of little things left over.  Besides being a multi-photo layout, if you break it down there's a good amount of embellishments on it.  There's a frame.  There's a border that's been cut to highlight two different photos.  There are a random selection of buttons.  There are words that she cut, but could totally be created from random sticker sheets, rub-ons or chipboard letters; you may even have full-words of your own to use up.  There are journaling strips that could be strips of sticker words/phrases or even patterned paper.  Even a free-hand cut turkey body could use leaves for the tail, or simply fill the space with another grouping of embellishments - stickers, flowers, pocket, another frame, etc.  She paint splattered the background which could be misted as well, or scatter eyelets or mini brads instead.  

Lots to choose from.  Lots to use up.

Share your link in the comments and earn an entry into the November drawing. 

Happy Wednesday,

30 Days of Thankful - Days 15 - 18

Grateful for love notes left on my pillow

Grateful for a freezer full over over-ripe bananas

Grateful for impromptu games at dinner.  Luckily we are a square state somewhere in the middle.  Most of us got all 50, but their whereabouts leaves something to be desired.

Grateful to the genius who thought about adding cinnamon to a potato and then putting it in a crust.

Be Thankful.

Short Recap and Gobble Up Challenge

It was a pretty low-key week which is probably why it became an organizing bake-fest.  Taking part in a four week clean the house challenge has me hitting all kinds of spots in my house.  I've cleared out a trash bag-full of items from just one of the kids' rooms - and I'm not even done with it.  Luckily I have a pick-up coming next week.  We enjoyed our usual meals and desserts.  Homework.  Dressing-up for no particular reason.  Notes on my bed.  A family game of Sorry on Friday after dinner.  I made my first sweet potato pie to pretty decent reviews.  I had one "needs to be sweeter" from a boy who thinks sugar is a core food group, and a thumbs up from one who thought it was pumpkin.

I didn't get to my studio this weekend - it was just too overwhelming to think about, let alone look at.  But, on my list today is to deal with the kids' portion of our shared space.  Maybe dipping my toe in will help.  Scrap-worthy though my space may not be, this sketch has me thinking of hauling stuff up to the kitchen to work on.  This cute sketch from PageMaps is part of your challenge today.  Combine it with fall-themed items to create a non-fall layout.

A couple of the designers did just that this month.  Like this layout from Maria Swiatkowski using the Fancy Pants line found in the Bigger than a Breadbox November kit.

Share your link in the comments and earn an entry into the November drawing. 

I've got my to-do list, my mom is picking up the boys later, my hubby won't be home tonight and, as it's Tuesday, I have my sister coming over to knit for a bit this afternoon.

Happy Tuesday,