Blogger Hates Me

For whatever reason Blogger won't allow me to comment using Open ID. So, since I have been leaving comments using this profile, I wanted you to be able to find my REAL blog - Little Wonders.

Please visit me there if you're interested!

A New Year, A New Look

Well, folks, it's been a long time coming, but I am saying good-bye to blogger and my Digital Happy Place. :( Don't worry, I'll leave the blog up. There's freebies here that still get hits and the links will stay good for as long as I can keep them up.

The other thing is that I found over the last year my focus changed a little and I wanted my blog to reflect that as well.

Here's the new address - http://happylittlewonders.wordpress.com/

Don't forget to update your Google Readers!

Oh, and I hope that everyone had a wonderful time ringing in the new year!

Happy New Year!!

My New Freetime Filler

Lego Star Wars. I resisted this game when I first saw it because I thought it would be silly. A silly little kid game.

Oh, I was so wrong.

A good friend gave this game to us for Christmas and let me tell you, we have spent every available minute playing it. Addictive little game that it is.

It's easy enough that the kids can play and have a level of success, but also challenging enough that the adults have enjoyed it as well. I am not a big fan of "fighting games" because I typically struggle to master the usually challenging series of button pushes required to master a particularly crucial move. Thankfully, the Wii eliminates this because you use the Wii remote as a light saber. The buttons are simple to master and using the remote as the light saber makes winning battles pretty simple. Add to that the really funny aspect of the characters shattering into little lego pieces? Brilliant!

The biggest draw for me though is the puzzle aspect. Every level has a challenge that must be figured out in order to advance. I love that!

I feel like I can highly recommend this game to anyone. We sure do love it!

Some More December Daily

I have been working madly on the many projects I've got going this month - here's a sample of life as told in my December Daily album:

Here's the front of day seven's page - a shameless scraplift of this page from Ali's book.


Here's the back side. The pictures weren't so great, but I am working with what I've got, so...


Skipping ahead... here's day 13.

And day 14 - you'll notice that I finished the advent calendar. YAY!

And day 15.

Day 16 - Seriously cold!



Day 17 - One of my favorite pages so far (along with day 7). I made the angel ornaments for friends. I have taken their names of the page for display. Internet security, you know... This is actually a 2-page spread. The split comes about 2/3 across the photo.

Well, Christmas draws ever closer. We're pretty much ready. Are you?

All's Quiet...

Sometimes the only time I get to blog is when the house is quiet after everyone else is in bed. Like tonight.

The December Daily album is coming along well. I am through day 4 and have finished day 7, mostly. Five and 6 are a bit of a challenge, since I don't know what I want to do with them just yet. Hope to have them done tomorrow.

Here are the digital images through day 4. After I get it all printed and assembled (hopefully tomorrow) I will post pictures of the real life album! I bet you are so excited!

Day 1

 

Created with Merry and Bright by Pamela Donnis

Day 2 is difficult to display in this format and have it make sense, so I'll show it as a completed page.

Day 3

 

Day 4

 

Created with Freshly Fallen by Jennifer Barrette

The advent calendar is not coming along so well. This may be one of those projects that gets done and is used next year! See -

 

So far it's been primed, painted, and I have cut paper for the top and bottom. Now it's all about the day magnets. Sigh. Like I said, it may be next year.

So Thankful

We already have some Christmas decorations up. I know Mom....Christmas doesn't start until Santa rides across the TV screen in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade... but, I decided that since we aren't hosting Thanksgiving I could get a little head start. And since I have so much "help" it takes twice as long anyway!

Speaking of decorating help, we can't let Captain Chaos anywhere near the tree because he discovered that he could SPIN the Christmas tree. So he tries that every chance he gets. He also discovered that shaking the tree makes all kinds of fun noises and gets a fantastic response from anyone standing nearby...

So, this week I have been focusing on what I am thankful for:

•  My family - we spent two days with my parents, grandparents, and brother last weekend. So fun!
• My kids - they keep me laughing.
• My husband - he keeps me laughing.
• Photoshop - without it I would be wandering in a scrapbook wasteland from which there is no return.
• Cooler weather. 
• A best friend that totally gets me. And was able to attend a midnight showing of Twilight with me. :)
• Christmas decorations that make me smile.
  

Here's a couple of layouts that I have done - totally unrelated to being thankful, I just really liked them!

 

Created with Woodsy Whimsy by Jennifer Barrette Designs.

 
 

Created with FaLaLaLaLa by Dielle Designs

Just sharing a bit

I am really looking forward to the holidays this year. I don't know why. Last year, I was so not in the holiday spirit. I think I was just overwhelmed and sleep-deprived!

At any rate, my December Daily album is coming along nicely. The general idea is to have the album basically put together before December. Since I am a digital scrapper this created somewhat of an issue for me. I have very little in the way of paper supplies left and no real desire to go out and buy all that I would need for this album to look the way I want! So, I am improvising.

I am still making my pages ahead of time. When December rolls around I can just drop a picture into the page and print. Easy-peasy.

Here's my Day 1 page. I used a picture from last year to get the idea of layout and composition. I journaled about that picture as well so I could pick my font. :)

 

All materials from Pamela Donnis' Merry and Bright available at Elemental Scraps.

 And something really neat! You can go to Your Fonts and get a free font of your very own handwriting! The "December" on the above page is my writing. You can do as many as you want, so I'll probably do another, better, more thought out one. 

But, back to the December Daily, the back side of each page will be other pictures from that day that I like or enjoy. 

I am really looking forward to having a completed album celebrating the magic of the 25 days of Christmas. And you know how I know I am gonna finish? Meet my accountability partner...