and knee deep in scraps!

desk shot

 day 4 just needs journaling… one of those days where i couldn’t form a coherent thought… LOL!

the story will come, i’ve learned not to force it. less stressful that way.

working on day 5.

hopefully, can share pics tonight.

jolly good days!

i’m back with day three of my December Daily.

Zedrick

the story is centered around our elf on the shelf.

we woke up to Zedrick on top of the “little tree” we got when we bought our Christmas Tree last night.

a free "little tree!"

O little tree, o little tree!

she was not too thrilled that Zedrick claimed the tree for the day.

1st page

for this page, i initially wanted a full page photo of Zedrick but i loved the stitching that showed from the border i did on the other side that i worked within it.

i took a photo of the last page of the book and placed it on the upper part, my journaling is then placed under it.

2nd page

the second page is home to Zedrick’s portrait. Heee!

He just looks so mischievious!

i used bits & pieces from the kit and my stash to embellish the page.

now day 3 is done, i’m off to work on day 4.

trying my best to take a good photo at night…

trimming our Christmas Tree

 we got our tree last night!

this is the back page of 1st day’s main page.

i love this photo of the girls and printed it to fill the page protector – 6×8.5.

Ali Edwards stamp

love this stamp set!

i used K&Company’s Handmade Lace Frame, to frame it and give the page dimension.

the clear sticker at the top part of the photo and the silver rub-on are from Pink Paislee (Mistletoe & Co, Vintage Moon Accents Metallic Silver).

the next page is a pocket page from Pink Paislee, from their House of 3 Parisian Anthology album.

poicket page {front}

the front are photos from the lot, when we were picking out our tree.

i took some pine needles to include in the album and stitched the pocket shut.

the stars are Jenni Bowlin’s bare chipboard set that came in my previous SC kit. just added glitter, placed in the pockets and stitched that pocket shut too (just like in Ali’s album).

the number 2 card is from Sassafras paper whimsies.

pocket page {back}

the back are photos of the girls trimming the tree.

i also included the receipt, almost threw it out. Whew!

day two page

love everything about this page!

the photo of hubby and the girls putting our “homemade” Star Angel captured our tradition. we started the tradition of Viven putting that topper when i finished decorating the tree. now he lets the girls do it with his help. that tree topper is older than the girls. this is its 11th year of service!

also, i get to use my tpewriter and sewing machine!

charlize was watching me typing the journaling out and said, “Mama, you are better at it than i am.” Ha! she didn’t know we had typing subjects for a couple of semesters in college! that was ages ago!

anyhoo, i love being able to capture this tradition in our family.

traditions

on a side note…

as we were in the car i told hubby that when we were kids our ultimate joy is when we get presents. now as a Mama, my ultimate Christmas joy is picking out our tree. as we were approaching the lot i felt like a child on Christmas eve. Heeeee! so excited i can barely contain it!

this year i total gave up all control in trimming our tree.

after putting the lights i let the girls have a go at it.

i must say, they did a wonderful job!

there were lots of squels as each ornament is taken out of its packaging.

a LOT of bickering too!

these two are competitive.

and so, that’s the story of day two.

day 3 was a busy one but i have a simple story. we’ll see how this one will come out as i had my camera with me only to find out the battery is dead. Boohoo!

alrighty, off to read the girls a story before bedtime…

]]> http://carylhope.wordpress.com/2011/12/03/december-daily-12-02-11/feed/ 2 CaRyL HoPe 028 051 031 047 035 042 http://carylhope.wordpress.com/2011/12/02/december-daily-l-12-01-11/ http://carylhope.wordpress.com/2011/12/02/december-daily-l-12-01-11/#comments Fri, 02 Dec 2011 19:41:09 +0000 CaRyL HoPe http://carylhope.wordpress.com/?p=2909 ]]> here’s a look at day one…

day one pages

i started off with a Hambly clear overlay i had in my stash. i love these overlays!

transparency insert {front}

transparency insert {back}

next is a 5×7 page protector.

a bit rusty on the printing of photos and ended up with 2 pictures.

i decided to use both and placed the smaller one at the back of this page.

hello december

 i used my typewriter on Ali Edwards exclusive to Studio Calico December Daily printable sheet. she’s so sweet! i love the sheets and will be using it throughout the album.

magic moments

 i just love Chiara’s expression here… one of her “magic moments!”

day one page

this is the main page.

day one’s story is about their Nativity set {which we love} and the recent addition, the Playmobil “Christmas Post Office” Advent calendar. They are taking turns opening the windows in the box. the first day was the red mailbox. they can’t wait to have the complete set to play with!

and so am i.

day one took a bit of work but i’m still figuring things out. as the days progress, i’ll get the hang of it. right now i’m telling myself to “keep it simple, sister!” that’ll be my mantra {K.I.S.S.} this season. Ha!

]]> http://carylhope.wordpress.com/2011/12/02/december-daily-l-12-01-11/feed/ 4 CaRyL HoPe 134 137 138 153 142 147 http://carylhope.wordpress.com/2011/11/30/december-daily-2011/ http://carylhope.wordpress.com/2011/11/30/december-daily-2011/#comments Thu, 01 Dec 2011 01:11:33 +0000 CaRyL HoPe http://carylhope.wordpress.com/?p=2891 ]]> we’re back from our Chicago trip.

It was a memorable Thanksgiving week.

i’m grateful we got to spend time with our relatives.

i’d say too short a visit!

but i’m glad we’ll meet again come New Year.

anyhoo,

before we left i started on my December Daily album.

got to finish the cover.

or so i thought.

i was preparing this post and was not happy with the photos.

the album needed something.

so i got back to work in between unpacking and 6 loads of laundry

and here it is!

December Daily 2011 Cover

initially i wanted to use “non-holiday” colors but the paper i intended to use was the only one in the kit.

and since it’s exclusive to Studio Calico, i can’t find it anywhere else.

one thing i was sure though, is that i want to use a vintage doily.

i just love the “intricate-ness” of crochet and the texture it’ll give to the cover.

talking about texture, i wish you can feel the deep red velvet paper i used as the background (i found it at Michaels)!

i think i’ll be stocking up on these in other colors too.

from there, i started building my cover.

i love the font of the numbers on the letter press coasters but can’t find a free one on the web.

so, i traced it on cardstock, cut it and now i have a template which i then used on a black glitter cardstock. that’s the number 2.

the 5 is one of the coasters that came with the kit.

i distressed the tag, inked the edges of both, tied a ribbon at the spine to cover where the red papers were joined and called it done.

25

and as i said earlier, it needed something so i added this:

embellishments

i started with the “’tis the season…” chipboard, then added the rest.

as i made the finishing touches, i noticed that it’s taking the shape of a tree so i added the star after adding glitter to it.

tree of tags

here it is from a different angle.

on the inside i painted it with Claudine Hellmuth’s Blank Canvas. once it dried i painted Making Memories Specialty Glaze – Glitter, to give it some shine & sparkle.

inside cover

i used one of the Smash pockets. this will be a good home for the bits & pieces i am bound to collect throughout the season.

details

i couldn’t bear to cut the doily so i folded it over and built the inside cover from there. thanks to my sis, Faith, in helping me figure out how to make it work.

stamp

 got to use my Studio Calico mini Month stamp! Yay!

i still need to figure out what alpha to use for the numbers. it looks like i might be doing some stamping. i just don’t have enough numbers “1 & 2″ in my alpha sets.

i’ve printed, cut to size, and inserted the foundation pages in the page protectors.

i used Ali Edwards 2011 December Daily 6×8 overlays as my foundation and work from there. i have Christmas papers, transparencies, and embellishments ready to use as i go.

i kinda like it that way… not too much going on inside the album… for now.

so, let the daily documenting begin!

December Daily 2011

]]> http://carylhope.wordpress.com/2011/11/30/december-daily-2011/feed/ 3 CaRyL HoPe December Daily 2011 Cover 25 detail Tree tags 088 093 094 099 083 http://carylhope.wordpress.com/2011/11/09/wedlensday-gone-campin/ http://carylhope.wordpress.com/2011/11/09/wedlensday-gone-campin/#comments Wed, 09 Nov 2011 12:33:31 +0000 CaRyL HoPe http://carylhope.wordpress.com/?p=2870 ]]> over the weekend the highlight was Charlize’s 1st Girl Scout camp.

goin' camping

she was excited to say the least.

load 'em up

she wanted to start packing on that Monday and the camp starts on Saturday!

heading out

this being her 1st camp, i wanted to go and capture everything but there were 10 parents who volunteered and they needed only 6 chaperones.

the troupe leader pulled names out of the hat and mine was not one of them.

anyhoo,

i managed to capture their pre-departure moments.

loading their stuff

learning their car assignments

head count

 we missed our chatterbox.

when i picked her up Sunday, she was talking non-stop about what they did in camp.

i think she had a great time!

i saw this in Free People‘s Holiday 2011 catalog .

Image of Me Mesh Sequin Capelet

 i just about died and gone to capelet heaven!

it’s just perfect for my little black dress.

then i saw the price… USD 228.00.

i went from cloud nine to ground zero in under a second. THUD!

Drats!

so what’s a girl to do?

i went online and searched for something i stumbled upon a few months ago.

this.

DIY Embellished Capelet

 i’m not quite sure how i ended up at P.S. I Made This but it features the coolest DIY stuff, ever.

and thanks to the founder, creator and author, Erica Domesek, i will be making my way to JoAnn’s tomorrow!

can’t wait to get started on this one!

]]> http://carylhope.wordpress.com/2011/11/08/i-have-champagne-taste/feed/ 2 CaRyL HoPe FreeP capelet diy capelet http://carylhope.wordpress.com/2011/11/02/halloween-hangover/ http://carylhope.wordpress.com/2011/11/02/halloween-hangover/#comments Wed, 02 Nov 2011 06:52:37 +0000 CaRyL HoPe http://carylhope.wordpress.com/?p=2864 ]]> ah, i’m going to miss halloween. *sigh*

all out Disney characters.

this year we dressed up as Jack Sparrow & Angelica of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, while the girls are Jasmine and Rapunzel.

we started Friday with Boo at the Zoo, our second year and had a blast!

the kiddies

 it was chilly but the kids didn’t seem to notice.

love the balance of having treats for the kiddies and games at this event. sad that it might be our last year doing this.

Pirate Twilight

our Twilight didn’t miss out on Halloween.

he hates dressing up so we bought him this pirate hat. love his pirate look. Heee!

we brought him to Slidell last night hoping we could bring him trick or treating… but he was his hyper self and i don’t want him scaring the kiddies, so he stayed at Julie’s house.

Jasper who turned 18 this year was off to do teen Halloween stuff with his friends.

Halloween turned out great this year, even if there was lesser candies. I kinda like it that way, the kiddies noticed though…

]]> http://carylhope.wordpress.com/2011/11/02/halloween-hangover/feed/ 0 CaRyL HoPe IMG_7223 IMG_7284 Pirate Twilight http://carylhope.wordpress.com/2011/10/27/third-times-a-charm/ http://carylhope.wordpress.com/2011/10/27/third-times-a-charm/#comments Thu, 27 Oct 2011 18:35:39 +0000 CaRyL HoPe http://carylhope.wordpress.com/?p=2858 ]]> so, Studio Calico’s November kits went up on sale today.

from the sneaks, i was eyeing Pin Cushion and Thimble.

but on the last minute i decided to forgo those and got the December Daily project kit.

December Daily Project Kit

my past 2 years (2008 & 2009) attempt were failures but this being our last Christmas in the US i really wanted to document the days leading up to Christmas.

with this being a kit, i figured it’ll be easier compared to doing my own thing.

plus with the holiday trip planned i need something that’s not so complicated.

so here’s to third time’s a charm!

]]> http://carylhope.wordpress.com/2011/10/27/third-times-a-charm/feed/ 0 CaRyL HoPe Nov 2011 kits Dec Daily kit http://carylhope.wordpress.com/2011/10/26/what-i-wore-wednesday/ http://carylhope.wordpress.com/2011/10/26/what-i-wore-wednesday/#comments Wed, 26 Oct 2011 16:00:58 +0000 CaRyL HoPe http://carylhope.wordpress.com/?p=2825 ]]> linking up with Lindsey’s what i wore wednesday!

as i didn’t get to update every week,

i’ll be posting the outfits i wore as i transition from summer to fall..

crop top over maxi dress

accessories

dress: local shop
crop top: Free People
sandals: Seychelles (via Gilt)
bracelets: Lucky Brand
rings: Free People + Lucky Brand
earrings: Lucky Brand
necklace: Fossil

going neutral

sweater: Anthropologie
shorts: Threadsense
shades: A|X via TJMaxx
earrings + necklace: Fossil
rings: Free People (my faves)
bracelets: Lucky Brand via TJMaxx
wedges: Anthropologie

at a kid's party

 long cardigan: Anthropologie
scarf: Banana Republic
top: Eyeshadow via Marshalls
lightweight corduroy legging: Gap
earrings: Lucky Brand
necklace + rings: Free People
shoes: Diane Von Furstenberg via Marshalls

that’s about it for this week.

thanks for dropping by, happy wednesday y’all!

]]> http://carylhope.wordpress.com/2011/10/26/what-i-wore-wednesday/feed/ 1 CaRyL HoPe crop top over maxi dress1 IMG_1594 IMG_1600 IMG_1605 IMG_1455 IMG_1486 IMG_1506 IMG_1504 IMG_1511 _MG_7073 _MG_7080 _MG_7109_1