I know I’m late…

Happy New Year!

I hope that you had the merriest Christmas ever!

I’ve been absent from blogsphere.

I can only say that I have thoroughly enjoyed spending time with my beautiful family.

One of our Christmas traditions is baking sugar cookies and decorating them.

I’ve been dieting since early November so I only made enough for my kids to enjoy.

I was hard not to eat cookies. But I lived.

Dan does not like sugar cookies. He says they are a waste of frosting. Ugh!

I wish I didn’t like sugar cookies. I happen to LOVE them. And homemade butter cream frosting.

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Happy New Year my dear friend!

I will be posting projects soon, promise.

xoxo, Christie

Where is the snow in Idaho? We’ve had a few storms here and there but the snow melted away by noon.

One of the things I’ve most enjoyed about living in Idaho: a white Christmas.

Where I lived in California, we never woke up to snow on Christmas morning.

I know that one doesn’t usually ‘hope for snow’…

but I’m dreaming of a white Christmas.

xoxo, Christie

Every December I pull out my tubs of Christmas embellishments and paper.

This year as I was digging through my stash and found a pre-cut snowflake that I originally picked up at Paradise Scrapbook Boutique.

I added some glitter and tulle for an instant handmade ornament with a vintage feel.

What do you think?

Have a fun-filled weekend!

xoxo, Christie

Recently I purchased a wooden advent tree from a local craft store called, Porters.

I put my kids to work painting it green. They actually wanted to help. Seriously.

Once the tree was dry, I decorated each of the little drawers.

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I made a mistake and didn’t realize it until I was taking photos. It’s a little too late to fix it now but see if you can spot it.

The first person to spot it and leave a comment that correctly states the mistake will receive a special Christmas “Scrapbooking” Treat.

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O.K. on with the post…

Here are some close up photos of the decorated drawers (I went through a lot of mod podge):

Here’s a shot of the entire tree:

I’m going to put little gifts or treats in each of the drawers along with something special for us to do as a family each day. Some of the ideas I’ve come up with are things like, baking cookies, caroling, making candy, shopping with Dad, taking photos for our Christmas cards, shopping with mom, watch a Christmas movie, bowling, going to the library to check out books, etc.

So, did you find the mistake I made? My kids haven’t noticed yet, neither has Dan…I’m going to see how long it takes them to notice it.

xoxo, Christie

I was lucky enough to receive some gorgeous Pan Pastels through Scrap n’ Art.

A couple of the projects I created are in this month’s issue.

The “Joy” tag (pictured above) is on the Scrap n’ Art blog today.

Thanksgiving was yesterday, I spent the day with family. I am so blessed to have family close and food on the table.

I can only begin to express how amazingly grateful I am for the blessing in my life. If I started a list of all that I am grateful for here, I wouldn’t be able to stop typing until sometime tomorrow night…and even then I’m sure the list would go on.

For now, I will just tell you how grateful I am for you.

You are AWESOME!

xoxo, Christie

Vintage Fabrics tied to tulle.

Graphic 45 “Christmas Past” paper.

Snowflakes, trees, buttons and beads.

Voilà! A Fabric Christmas Banner.

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Today I am spending the afternoon with my family. We’re getting a jump on the Christmas rush and doing a bit of shopping (more like browsing), afterwards, we’re off to see the movie “Puss in Boots”.

Tomorrow I’m headed to Utah again…going to spend a few days with my grandmother. I’m really excited!

Are you ready for the Holidays? Have you started shopping? Are you already finished?

xoxo, Christie

Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas!

Click here to see the Bryant Family Jib Jab video

With love, Christie, Dan, Parker and Izabelle

How funny is it that I used to be known (among scrappy friends) for hand stitching on layouts? Not anymore.

Stitching was one of those things that I felt completed a layout. Now its…chalk…buttons…flowers…?

I still love stitching. This paper stocking definitely needed a little something extra.

Silver bells come in handy too.

I’m enjoying the season and spending lots of time with family.  As of this afternoon, my kiddos are officially out of school for Christmas Break.

Fun will be had by all…especially with more cookie baking happening tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

xoxo, Christie

Merry Christmas my dear bloggy friends.

I hope that this post finds you feeling merry!

xoxo, Christie

These sweet ornaments were made by my mother.

To make the first ornament, mom used some red tulle, white crepe paper and scrapbook paper.

On the next ornament she used wrapping paper, red tulle and a white snowflake ornament.

So pretty!

Mom and I have also been busy in the kitchen.  She made fudge and I made divinity.  ‘

Tis the season!

Izabelle has been busy in the kitchen too…

She had some fun creating a little graham cracker ginger bread house.

Izabelle is such a creative little girl!

Izzy has really sparked an interest in cooking lately and has been a big help in the kitchen.

What a cute little house, right?

8 days until Christmas and loving every minute of it.

xoxo, Christie