When did it change?

I was out this morning on a run to JoAnn's to see if there was any craft thing on sale to pick up and to look for fabric for a project for my daughter's upcoming birthday...alas, I was not interested in standing in the long lines at the cutting table so I didn't even begin the search for the fabrics. My plans were abandoned to be resumed another day. Back in the car,  radio on, I heard the DJ natter on about one thing and another until I heard him say "Black Friday Weekend". He had my full attention...when did Thanksgiving Weekend become Black Friday Weekend??

At home I read a post on how the Thanksgiving message from the White House failed to thank God, or even mention Him (Hello...Pilgrims...remember history?) and talked about how "lucky" we are in America. The Sacrifice of the Pilgrims have been sidelined yet again, not by football anymore, but the latest big bargain starting at midnight or 4 a.m. and continuing till everyone heads back to work on Monday. How sad. If you are finding yourself wanting to hold on to the true story of Christmas why not start as you begin decorating for Christmas?

Hand made gifts, decorations and ornaments abound at our home. Just about everyone has something to contribute. One of my favorites are the nativity sets we've made. I'm featuring my daughter's nativity set she made me a few years back. She doesn't like it, but I do. They make a nice visual to recount the story of wise men who came, shepherds that were witness to a host of angels announcing the birth, and parents who were chosen to be guardians of the King of Kings.  

The Wise Men, the Shepherds, the parents and The King of Kings. 

The Wise Men with their camels.

The Shepherd's with their sheep and a donkey.

This is just the wise men and camels of a wood set that my son David and I did many years ago. It is more durable for little hands, you don't need to worry about things getting broken. It also lets the little ones play with arrangments and retell the story as they play. The pieces are cut from 1x4 pine and stained (that's David's part) then woodburned details and painted with acrylics and sealed (my part.) 

Well, I hear my youngest bringing in the trees ( yes, three skinny trees this year) and ornaments from the shed, ready for the tree trimming  tomorrow afternoon. Did we pick up eggnog? Are there any holiday M&M's left? Is the music ready for background  inspiration? Get the camera ready, too!

Theme of Week One of Advent: Waiting

Well, off you go to shop or decorate, I have Christmas cards to finish painting and eventually addressing, I appreciate you stopping by for a brief look.

andrea

Happy Thanksgiving!

 Wishing you all a very Happy Thanksgiving!

To God Be the Glory, great things He hath done!

andrea

DeNami Design Sketch Challenge #10

Finding a little time tonight to work on a card for this month's sketch challenge at DeNami Design. In keeping with the season, I bring you a simple "red work" style Christmas card.

Red and White cardstock-Hollos
red base card
white cardstock embossed with "Snow Dots" embossing folder for Cuttlebug by Provo Craft

DeNami Stamps:
F 193 Merry Christmas Circle,
I53 Medium Dot Circle frame,
N109 Polka Dot Border,
C58 Mini Trees
Prisma color pencils
white embossing powder,
Brilliance Black Graphite
Spellbinders classic circles

There are more of my cards and things posted on Flick'r for you to check out if you have time.
There's always a link on the right hand column or here, this time!

Thanks for stopping by for a look!
and Happy Thanksgiving!

andrea

Gratitude...beginning the season right

Later this week we will set aside a day, or a portion of a day at least to celebrate Thanksgiving Day. The annual traditional Festival began  in December 1621, a year after they arrived.  The Pilgrims had spent two storm-tossed  months at sea before setting foot on Plymouth Rock. They were totally unprepared for the harsh New England winter and nearly half of them died before spring. With much prayer and helpful Indians a bountiful harvest resulted. A three day feast marked the first Thanksgiving, they gave thanks to God, the One who had sustained them through the darkest days.

There is so much more to the story to hear and I encourage you read about it and to take time to reflect on the sacrifices made that we may have  all we have today. Certainly gratitude would be the way to enter into the Christmas season, but we're off and running the following day in search of the best bargains and all the hottest items out there!

Today I've filled this post with two Thanksgiving cards and an example of a scrapbook page as a companion to the Mosaic Moments Advent Calendar of the last post.

An overlook of both pages together.

The Advent Calendar and a page with photos of our Christmas day. I began with 4-blocks and a photo to cover, but I wanted to add some of the color from the Advent calendar, so I just trimmed the photos a little more.

I used foam mounting tape on some of the packages, (same squares from the Advent page with a touch of ribbon to dress them up as packages) the date block and also some of the photos blocks.  

And now for the Thanksgiving cards...

Both cards use paper from Autumn Splendor collection by We R Memory Keepers. Top card is Autumn leaf and bottom card Tawny. Clear stamped images from the same collection, Autumn Splendor-Pumpkins and Leaves. "Give Thanks" from Inkadinkadoo. Gold pearls made with Viva Pearl Pen.

Wishing you a Blessed Thanksgiving!

andrea

Advent---preparing for Christmas

Christmas Time. What a wonderful time of year! It is so easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of shopping and baking and trimming the tree that we lose sight of the reason we celebrate in the first place. When our children were small we began several different routines leading up to Christmas, so that we we could really focus on Jesus.

One of those traditions was an Advent Calendar or countdown Calendar. Advent begins four Sundays before Christmas, but the Calendar here has 25 days and can be arranged with the numbers 1 to 25 following the month of Decmber , or from 25 down to 1 counting down the days. Decide what you want to put inside...for this sample I've printed Bible verses for a daily reading. You could also list special things to do like bake cookies for a shut in, go caroling at the nursing home, or put out the nativity set, one piece at a time on several different days. Depending on the ages of your children, you can adjust these things each year.

So let's get started! Begin with your choice of Mosaic Moments 12x12 grid paper. I used black for high contrast.  Purchase 5 different Christmas scrapbook papers. You may want to use double sided paper for color or pattern inside. For best results pick five colors that co-ordinate well together. From each sheet cut a strip 4.25" wide. Cut each strip into 5- 1-1/8" rectangles. Fold each rectangle in half, decide if you want a top fold or side fold, I've used a top fold. With adhesive on the back, align each square with the guidelines on Mosaic Moments grid paper. I suggest that you use each color once in each row and once in each column for a good balance. See what you find pleasing and put them all in place.

Using the download for numbers in the last post (here) adhere in the order you want.

 Print the verses either by hand or typed in a fancy script to inside, either on the top-side of the flap, leaving the rest of the square for more details or photos, or to be seen as you open it up.

If you'd like to make a scrapbook page out of this take pictures of your activities and make small 2" square photos to place on that days square. (set printer for contact sheet, a 4x6 photo with two columns and two rows will print four photos you can trim to a 2" square)

There are many Advent devotional books available try Christian Book Distributors for seveal selections for all ages. One of our personal favorite series is the trio of books by Arnold Ytreeide.  Stop back later I'll try to share some other ideas for Focusing on Jesus this season with your families.

Thanks for stopping by...

andrea



The Cat is out of the bag!

The Announcement has been made! Mosaic Moments New Design Team has been selected and I'm going to be on the Team!!! Now that's EXCITING news!

If you are not familiar with Mosaic Moments and you scrapbook, you are missing out on a terrific product. I will have more to say in the days to come, and to show too. In the meantime, be sure to visit the web site to get aquainted.  For now I'd like to link you to their web page where you will find their newsletter with the full announcement and this FREE download.  I hope to have a sample of this done soon to show you how easy it will be to create your own Advent Calendar. Until then, to obtain the numbers download and the directions click on the calendar below and scroll down the page. Two separate links to download each. An email will confirm your "free" purchase and send a link to download.



Look for them on Facebook and at http://www.tamipotter.com/ 

Looking forward to the days ahead...
andrea