A Spoonful of Sugar

I thought it might be fun to participate in this challenge: 12 photos on the 12th of each month. I really wanted to do the 365 days of photos but I’m so not very good at remembering to take at least one photo a day.

So here are my 12 photos that I took on the 12th. A couple days late as I’ve been sick and it’s been really hard to even get out of bed :(

Sorry for the blurriness of some of the photos, they were all taken with my phone and I didn’t have the best light for some.

1. We woke up to find a lot of snow on the ground. Boo

2. A couple of our favorite things in our kitchen: mine is the Mickey hand oven glove and can you guess Steve’s favorite? Yep the storm trooper spatula!

3. My 3 babies sitting in a row. (and hoping for a treat)

4. A very cold pig out in the snow. Norman does NOT like the cold.

5. We went to a thrift store and Steve was thrilled to find this gem: Star Wars Monopoly. All pieces are there too!

6. While I was trying to take a picture of Zoey on my pillow, Moosie had to sneak in there to be part of the photo.

7. Picked up some of these while we were at the grocery store! One of my weaknesses is definitely orange tic tacs! But only the orange ones.

8. Vanilla Steamed milk. A new favorite of both mine and Steve’s. I recently tried one while at Starbucks because a friend of mine always gets them. YUM!!! I came home and made one for Steve to try and we’re hooked. We’ve been making them every night.

9. Mac n Cheese. I had an odd craving (I’ll blame this on the pregnancy) for this. I can’t even remember the last time I made mac n cheese. Years…..  Thankfully it was a quick craving and over right after I ate the stuff. Hopefully it will be years before I crave this again.

10. Stanley our dumbo rat out for a little play. He’s such a cutie and so affectionate.

11. Steve begged me to play Monopoly after dinner. He just loves it cause it’s Star Wars themed. So we played and I lost. Of course. I hate Monopoly. haha

12. We ended our Thursday night with our favorite show: Big Bang Theory.

WeScrap’s new kit was just revealed: Astoria, and it’s gorgeous!!

I made a layout and a fun exploding box album with this great kit. Be sure to check the kit out here

2011: what a year!  I can say for sure that it is the most memorable and best year of my life so far :)

here are my top 10 most memorable moments of the year:

1. Marrying my best friend

2.  Our graduation from the Exotic Animal Training and Management Program in California

3. Getting to work with some amazing animals

4. Our fabulous Disney World Honeymoon

5. Moving from California to Chicago (and the super long drive to get there!)

6. Adding Moose and Norman to our family

7. Starting our own business (and getting lots more animals in the process)

8. Spending great quality time with family

9. Buying our 1st house together

10. Finding out that 2012 is going to bring us the biggest joy of all. :)

Well, its already December 11th therefore we are on the 11th day of 12 Days of Christmas over at WeScrap. Today I’m showcasing some awesome paper star tutorials that I found around the web. These are so cool and fun to make too!

First up are these pretty hanging stars:

Find the tutorial here

I just love these cute 3D stars!

Find the tutorial here

And finally we have this gorgeous star that I am dying to try!

Find the tutorial on how to create this lovely here 

So sorry for the lack of posts lately. We have just recently bought a house and are moving in one week! It’s been a mad scramble around here trying to get everything packed up, as well as finish Christmas shopping and get projects completed.

Today’s prompts are about senses:

1. What are your favorite smells about the holidays?

This one is so easy for me, I LOVE the smell of live Christmas trees (even though we’ve been getting the fake ones for years), and I love love love the smell of the Christmas dinner baking and of course my mom’s fresh shortbread right out of the oven. Those goodies barely have a chance to cool before we gobble them down!

2. What are your favorite tastes about the holidays? Favorite recipes?

Another easy one: the entire Christmas dinner that my parents make, including all the glorious desserts: trifle and shortbread are special Christmas time favorites.

Over at WeScrap we’re doing the 12 Days of Christmas right now with new tutorials and inspiration posted everyday by the Inspiration Team. Today is my day and I’m bringing you the inspiration of tags! I love making my own Christmas tags, they are easy and quick and they look awesome on the gifts.

First up – how would you like some FREE printables? Who wouldn’t? Not only will these be quick, but you don’t even have to make them yourself! Just print and cut – voila!

Grab the printables here

Next up a little Christmas tag inspiration for ya!

 See the tutorial for this cute tag here

Here are some Christmas tags I made a few years ago with a tutorial on how to make them here 

And finally, more printables! Have fun!

Check back later for more Holiday prompts!

Today the awesomely talented Nikki Sivils is giving away a copy of my book on her blog! Jump on over and leave a comment on her blog to win, and check out the fab cards she posted up there today too!

Today’s prompts:

1. Happy holiday memories:

Journal about 1 (or more if you wish!) of your most favorite Holiday memories.

2. Traditions

Journal about your family holiday traditions. Do you have an advent calendar? Take a pic of it if you do. Are there certain things you bake or cook every year? Jot down the recipe!

Welcome to December! I wish things weren’t so crazy around here right now, so I could actually get posts up every day. That would just be amazing. Hopefully I will have some exciting announcements soon, just not confirmed yet…”

So for the month of December, I know a lot of people (I wish I had time to do this, this year) are making the daily December albums. I totally love those so much, if you are doing one, feel free to email me some pictures and I’ll post them up here, or leave your link in a comment. All the journal prompts for December will have to do with the Holidays/ December Daily albums. Hope you enjoy them!

Today’s prompts:

1. It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…

How are things looking in your home? the mall? your neighborhood? Do you have decorations up yet? Do your neighbors have Christmas lights up? What does your favorite mall have for their big holiday displays?

2. How December started…

How did December start out for you? Was there snow outside or was it unusually warm for this time of year? Any special events happening in your area?