Nichol Spohr LLC

testing.

is this thing ON?

does anyone run this thing?

oh my.

I really need to update (according to my husband and probably a few of you nice people out there who just don't tell me every single day like he does. ha)

I discovered facebook.

Which is bad.

Really, really bad.

I have two monster assignments both due on the 31st so I have been working like mad to meet my deadlines.

And I fell behind on my holiday journal. I hope to post a few entries this evening.

That's the plan anyway. :)

I hope that everyone had a fabulous Holiday, whatever you celebrate. Our Christmas was lovely, very laid back and relaxed for the most part. I was glad when it was over. I don't know what happened to me this year but I never fully got into the spirit of the season. :( I can't wait to put the Christmas decorations away, either. That will be done by next week. I guess I'm ready to get back to normal. 

And because I have been such a bad blogger, here is a layout share. :)

I did this a few weeks ago at the scrapping retreat. Ah...such good memories!

Supplies:

• Patterned Papers (Narratives, Creative Cafe, Bo Bunny)
• Cardstock (Bazzil) 
• Tree, Leaves, Acorn Digital Diecuts (QK Silhouette) 
• Letter Stickers (SEI, MM, Doodlebug) 
• Heart Stickers (Heidi Grace) 
• Other (buttons, pop dots & string) 

Happy Monday!

randomness.

Hello everyone!

Sorry for the absence over the last few days...I really don't know what happened but my husband informed me that it's been a few days since my last post. He sure is observant. ha ha

I need to finish up and scan/photograph my JYC entries and will try to do that for tomorrow.

Here are a couple of fun things that I am excited about:

Creating Keepsakes, January Kit of the Month: Project 365. Yep, I am going to participate in this fabulous concept in 2009. So very excited about this idea. You can read all about the concept and learn about it on Becky's Blog HERE.

Jennifer is giving away the EK Success 3" scallop punch on her blog HERE. Check it out...this punch is fabulous!

I am in love with THIS set that Tia did for 2Peas 36 days of... (Is it not phenomenal?) so WOW.

I spent the weekend purging all three kids' rooms. We fondly refer to this as "oh oh oh". It's what you do before "Ho Ho Ho". I always like cleaning out and purging the old before all the new of Christmas. Payton really was so good and chose lots of older toys she's outgrown to give away at local shelters, etc. I'm so proud of her. :) And now their rooms look SO good. I really should take photos to prove that they really are so nice and tidy and clean. ha!

Finally, the last few years I have picked up this kit at my local discount store:

In the past I've picked up ONE kit and they had to share and make it together (nothing wrong with learning to share) but this year I did pick up two kits (Ethan is still too young to do his own and really his only interest was in stealing as much of the candy as his brother and sister would allow, lol) so that both Brenden and Payton could create their own Gingerbread House and they were thrilled. It was also very interesting to watch them work and see their decorating style. So fun. And so worth the $9/each for an afternoon of fun. :)

The best thing about the kit? It comes with all the supplies needed to create the house. :)

All I did was construct the house with the included frosting, then I let the kids loose to create. 

Brenden's Gingerbread House:

Payton's Gingerbread House:

Have a wonderful Monday!

JYC update.

I finally got my pages scanned in this afternoon. :)

You will notice that I left out a few days. I was either:

a) busy

b) forgetful

c) not feeling the prompt since I had done it before and had nothing new to add

or

d) all 3

I find it much easier to move forward and keep current with my journal when I give myself permission to skip a day here and there. :)

With that said, on with my entries!

Day 9

Just a 4x6 page with a 4x6 My Mind's Eye transparency over the photo. Quick and easy. I will place another photo of the kids wearing their new jammies on the backside of this page after Christmas.

Day 10:

The circles in the upper right corner were punched from wrapping paper. 

Day 11:

Day 13:

FYI: This won't be the only Elf quote in my journal this year. I wrote down several that I hope to incorporate at some point during this journey. I know for sure one more will make it in. There are just so many great one liners in this film that crack me up (and incidentally pertain to my life). ha! :)

Day 16:

Day 17:

So, I wasn't going to do the entry today until I remembered that I bought something last week for a good friend and even though it wasn't exactly for Christmas, it sort of fit with the theme and I can't wait for her to get it...I am like giddy with excitement for her to get it. It might not make it to her by Christmas but I have my fingers crossed. And I couldn't share what it is here because I didn't want her to accidentally see it or someone to tell her. I included a photo of it on a 4x6 page that I will add to the album in the sidebar just as soon as she gets it. Um, can you tell I am excited about it? ;) I absolutely love giving someone that perfect gift.

There you have it. All caught up through today. Whoohoo! Now, I can get back on schedule and get my entries posted daily...

In Christmas card news...guess what??? I got a notice from Shutterfly telling me that my photo cards would be arriving tomorrow! I was like, dude...seriously? Here I was mad at myself for procrastinating and now I may actually be able to get them addressed and turned around and posted by Friday instead of Monday or Tuesday of next week. So, so happy!

Have a good one!

Night!

too tired...

...to take pic's of my Christmas Journal tonight.

• Still fighting this darn cold.
• Wrapped about a gazillion gifts (gazillion is a real word, I'm sure of it...ha!).
• wrangled ornery children at the hairdresser....ok...really I only had to deal with the 3 year old. He was sort of bad until they gave him a sucker...or two.
• took our Holiday Photo for our Christmas card...yea...just a bit behind.
• designed card (really just uploaded and dragged and dropped into a Shutterfly card and then paid for card. That was SO not what I was going to do for my card this year but hey, I ran out of time. May I add: will someone please, please email me in say, October of 2009 and tell me to start planning my Christmas Card? I am so darn mad at myself right now. I had to pay expedited shipping and the stinkin' things won't be here until Monday. So to my friends and family...you may not have your card before Christmas. Sorry! :( 

Until tomorrow...

 

I know...

...where have the last several days gone????

First of all, I caught a nasty horrible cold. And I am not a very delightful sick person. I don't have much patience for it since I am rarely ill. It stinks.

We spent the weekend at home. It was so nice. We watched movies with the kids (Chronicles of Narnia which I hadn't seen either of these movies yet and they were good) both Friday and Saturday nights. 

I scrapbooked a lot too. I had two assignments to work on and I really love both layouts I did. Can't wait to share those. :) 

Started rearranging my patterned paper collection. I just got the wild hair to completely rework my patterned paper. I have been storing it by manufacturer (except for Halloween & Christmas papers) but I was really irritated when I went to look for certain colors of papers and had to search and search through several paper files for the right colors. So....I am arranging my papers by color. I don't know if I will like this or not but I'm going to try it for awhile. I am such a color oriented scrapper so I think this just makes sense plus I'm hoping it saves me time when looking for certain colors of papers and I love mixing and matching. I still have a little bit to sort so finishing that up is on the agenda today. :)

Woke up to a super cold day here in the midwest. Cold and gray. Perfect day to stay inside and get some organizing and baking done. :) I think it's sugar cookie time. 

I am a few days behind on my Christmas Journal. Later today, I'm going to sit down and get caught up on the prompts I feel like doing and let the rest slide. I will post all my newest entries tomorrow. 

Finally today I wanted to share a couple of new layouts I have up over at 2Peas.

This was the layout of the day on Saturday. Focus on using the new cutout paper from Creative Cafe.

 

(c) Two Peas In A Bucket

  

I punched lots of circles out of patterned papers and placed them right behind the design of the cutout paper. You can see the supply list and instructions HERE.

 

And it's the 15th which means the mid-month Garden went up today.

Here is a seasonal layout I did. Ironically, I also used the Creative Cafe cutout paper on this one too, same idea of punching circles and adhering them behind the cutout design. Can you tell I really like this cutout paper? :)

 

(c) Two Peas In A Bucket

 

I used a lot of Silhouette diecutting too. The snowflakes and title are all from the Silhouette Jolly Digital CD kit and the "our '06 card" are all QK alpha dies as well. Supplies and details HERE.

 

Have a great Monday!

36 Days of...

If you haven't checked it out yet, the 2Peas Garden is doing a cool thing every day though this holiday season where every day you can see a new card, tag & ornament set by one of the garden girls. The set I created for this event went up today. You can get the details HERE.

Here's my set:

(c) Two Peas In A Bucket

Here are some cool projects to check out:

I absolutely love THIS set Jennifer created. That tree ornament is way cool.

THIS set by Erica Hernandez is so simple, yet stunning. I am loving that color combination and her ornament is such a simple concept (that I totally would never have though of!). I think the kids and I are going to copy this idea later this week. :)

Jen Gallacher always creating the most classic gorgeous projects. Check out her set HERE.

I love the star ornament Tracy Miller created. I totally have no idea how she made them but they are  super cool. Check it out HERE. 

I'll be scanning my recent JYC entries and will share them tomorrow. :) 

Lots to do today, so I better get busy. :)

Have a fabulous day!

Back home.

So many things to share today.

Got home about 9:30 p.m. last night after one of the most fun weekends ever. I feel so blessed to have gotten the opportunity to spend several days with some of the most amazing women ever. We ate, we drank, we scrapbooked and stamped, we talked and talked and laughed. It was fabulous. So to Jennifer, Jana, Leslie, Laura and Shari Carroll...I love you all. It was amazing and we simply must do it again. :) 

I did work on my JYC album while away (as well as some other fun projects!). 

The December 5th entry is a 2-pager. I chose to journal the 25 things I have on my Christmas "to-do" list instead of journaling about our advent calendar (which I have done in the past. You can see that entry from 2006 HERE.). This is the left page:

 

and the right page:

I decided to skip the entry for the 6th. I kept trying to rethink how to journal this prompt and finally came to the conclusion that I didn't really have anything new to add so I opted to skip it. And I'm okay with that. :)

Entry for the 7th:

The kraft tags behind the diecut label will hold the details of my Christmas shopping lists (I just need to print them out and attach to the tags). Simple and easy. 

Entry for the 8th is one where I opted for a 4x6 page. I was traveling most of the day yesterday and even though I could have taken photos of holiday things around our home today and done this page, I opted to use the photos we took yesterday morning before we left the retreat. I thought it was relevant to record everything about this holiday season and this weekend retreat was important to me so I included it in my JYC album. 

Here's the front of the 4x6 page:

And the back:

I also wanted to share some samples I made with the newest CK KOTM, Little Stories.

Check out Kerri Bradford's blog for amazing samples of this kit from Jen Gallacher & Wendy Sue Anderson. :)

ETA: All the papers, journaling cards and stickers shown above are included with the KOTM. The things from my own stash that I added were the string, gems, florals and stamping.

Well, it's about time to run and get the kiddos from school. (And about that time to maybe start making some candy for the holidays, too...I have the urge to make some goodies today! :)

Have a good one!

the best husband.

Lookie what I came back from brunch to find on my desk here at the scrappy retreat:

 

 

These are just the most gorgeous roses. Thank you Sweetie! You really, really are the best!

I am just getting ready to work on today's JYC entry but here is yesterday's:

 

Sorry for the short post tonight...more soon. :)

Night!

2Peas Last Minute Holiday Gift Event + JYC (Day 3)

2Peas is having Last Minute Holiday Gift Event this Thursday & Friday (Dec. 4th & 5th).

Class chats will be held on the 2Peas Education Board. If you have time, join Tia and myself for a chat this Friday, the 5th, at 2 P.M. CST. :)

I have a new video up at 2Peas showing how to use the Silhouette in several different ways on THIS layout. 

(c) Two Peas In A Bucket

I needed a title page for THIS album and I absolutely adore the images from the new Silhouette Holly Digital Design CD kit. The santa sleigh, title "from our home to yours" (I just switched the wording around a bit) and tree are all from this kit. The monogram "m" is from THIS kit. (I just checked the QVC website and it says it's no longer available. Boo. Hope QK offers this elsewhere, it's one of my favorite design cd's (and the birdie I use all the time is from this kit). The circles were also cut using the Silhouette. So easy.

JYC (Day 3)

Again, same basic background and design but today I used the Cuttlebug to diecut and emboss some trees and a Stampin' Up Star stamp and punch in addition to the rest of my album supplies. Dressing the trees up with gems really added some Christmas sparkle, me thinks. ;)

And this star stamp and punch are two of my favorite Stampin' Up products. I have used them numerous times in other projects. So versatile.

And my journaling:

I am behind. And I'm going to be gone for a few days at a scrapping retreat so no photo until next week...

By then it will be a mad dash to make a photo card and then another mad dash to get them posted. :) 

My plan is to slip a photo of the photo card into the 4x6 sheet protector next to this page once I have them all finished. I'll update my 2008 JYC album in the sidebar with photos as I get those added to my journal. 

Time to finish packing before a long day of travel tomorrow. I'll be checking in from the retreat!

Night!

JYC (Day 2)

Before I share my JYC entry I wanted to let you know that I posted my first Garden Blog entry over on the 2Peas GG Blog today. You can see it HERE. It's all about my scrap studio. If it doesn't make sense, forgive me, I lost my post three times and had to retype it every time. I am a so not technical. SO embarrassing!

Today's Journal Your Christmas entry:

Sorry this isn't the greatest photo but this was the best way to show how I'm incorporating photos into my album this year. I don't know if I will do this every day (but I hope to try!), I'm mixing these 4x6 sheet protectors in with the 6x6 pages. The photo today is a pic of some window cling snowflakes I made for our family room windows/door. I added a little journaling and a snowflake punch to coordinate it with my page for today.

I'm continuing on with the theme I started with except I diecut a cute little owl using the Silhouette for today's entry. :) 

I dressed him up with a ribbon bow, a punched heart and a diecut santa hat for fun. :)

For my journaling today I chose to make note of my favorite winter attire. It's nice to journal those heartfelt, meaningful memories and moments but sometimes it's fun to journal those lighter aspects of the season as well. :) 

Supplies:

Snow Dots Cuttlebug Embossing Folder

Swiss Dots Cuttlebug Embossing Folder

Quickutz Owl Digital Download Design for Silhouette

Quickutz Scallop Circle Digital Download Design for Silhouette

Holiday Word Art by Ali Edwards for Designer Digitals

Holiday Phrases Hand-Drawn brushes by Ali Edwards for Designer Digitals

Baja Breeze, Riding Hood Red, Chocolate Chip Cardstock (Stampin' Up)

Kraft Cardstock (Hobby Lobby)

Journaling Spot & Date Stamp (Heidi Swapp)

Snowflake Punches (Martha Stewart)

More tomorrow! Night!