goodbye 2009

jan. cocoa daisy, rest of gallery here...new beginnings


it was a great year, full of surprises and total goodness! I hope you had a great 2009 as well, hard to believe we are entering into a new decade. So many things to look forward to, my oldest will grow up in this decade, become a teenager, graduate from high school and so much more, woah! I can't even process it all but looking forward to 2010! I hope you are having fun bringing in the new year and have a safe and happy one filled with many blessings!
Happy New Year blogland!
xo

back in the pocket

...back at home from a wonderful Christmas spent down south. I love the holidays and it felt so great to be unplugged for a bit! I will have a better post up tomorrow, just wanted to say hi and if you are going to the movies this week Sherlock is a must see! My sister and me saw it on Saturday and it was fantastic!!

Robert Downey, Jr. is a genius + Jude Law ( is great as Watson too)! I want to see it again, for real, it has the perfect mix of everything. Next on our list this week...avatar!
xo

happy wishes!

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wishing you lots of love to you and your family today and tomorrow! we are about to head south for a few days so I am stepping away from the computer and crafting to spend this splendid season with my family.  thank you for allowing me to share my life with you daily, i am looking forward to another year of blogging, creating, loving and sharing! off to open one gift for the day, merry christmas eve! 

xo

giveaway winner!

jeremy said...



i think tina's prints are so so pretty.
i can think of tons of people who would love one of them, including myself. ha.
merry christmas
xojer
12:08 AM

congrats jeremy, please email me your info! :)

yes, we survived the snowpocalypse of 09!

and by snowpocalypse, i mean blizzard but people actually loose their minds in these parts when the weather man calls for three inches of snow. So you can imagine the wide panic that set into the dmv when the forcast called for 18+ inches! When I say no bread or milk was left anywhere I mean it, omg it was insane! In my area we got way over two feet of fluffy snow that is slowly turning into ice/snowbergs.
This is how we spent our extended weekend:

playing in the snow and shoveling said snow. We couldn't get enough of making snow angels, swoon...

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baked these, yum!

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made some globes

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day 12 of my december daily

some presents are wrapped and under the tree

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days 13 and 14

gratitude and the perfect christmas morning outfit!

perfect weekend spent with my family, crafting, playing, cooking and just fun times! I also have my first two projects up on the Couture Cardstock blog, you can check them out....here. :) 3 days until christmas (yay!)......

xo

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don't forget to leave a comment below for my embellishments rak! :)

sponsor specials+ giveaway

quick post for my lovely sponsors, thank you for looking/ordering from their shops. It means a lot to me as to them as well. :) Several are having specials until Christmas and another is offering a freebie. I love free don't you?! :) I will send out a special rak of goodies (all embellishments) to one lucky winner, just leave a comment to what item you love or would gift to a friend from any of the sponsors' shops!
handmade:modern is offering  a FREE "Barbara" Book with any order over $10

karla dudley designs has some gorgeous free digital brushes available for download...here.

lifelovepaper is now offering single Polaroid prints AND you also get this one for free with any purchase thru Christmas Day.

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if you would like to be a sponsor in January, email me at vee[dot]jennings[at]gmail[dot]com for more details!

so happy yo... it's friday

day 11: some j.crew love for the day, totally love getting their catalogs in the mail. It is packed full of inspiration and photos and amazing clothes. I added some stitching to this spread, which I am trying to add more of in this mini. I also need to add more pages to the frame because I am soon to run out of pages to scrap on, lol.

I cannot believe it is 7 days until christmas, it seems like just yesterday it was dec 1!

We are about to get a major snow storm, so we are going to be stuck trapped inside! Since we are going to be inside we are  going to make some homemade cookies, look at movies and, stay in our pjs and play in the snow! :) This recipe is a crowd favorite: peanut butter kiss cookies. It is super easy and you mostly have all of the ingredients other than the kisses in your pantry! It is a great recipe for kids to help with too,because their isn't a lot of ingredients. I love baking during the holidays, it is a tradition that we do every Christmas. I can still remember helping my mom bake cakes to take to South Carolina for our family for the holidays. We would bake at least four cakes from scratch, the house would smell so good! :)

so, so, so happy it is friday!! :)
Have a happy and safe weekend!
xo

on the daily

This little sweetpea is having a pj day at school while they sip on hot chocalate and watch polar express. She has been so excited all week for today when she could wear her pajamas to school!

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She could wear her fairy slippers which I think she was even more excited for, if that was at all possible! :) This is their last week of school and tomorrow is pj day for Saadiq. I wish I had days like that in school, oh wait a second, I did it was called college, lol!

dare 154, is up today...something lost, something found. I could only  wrap my brain around something found... (new white watch and knuckle ring) & played with some of  Studio Calico's Homefront line.

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day 10 in december daily book:

snippets of things and countdown to the big day! I am holding down a piece of plastic in front of it but it does lift up, stapled to the back of that (plastic) is a picture from my phone of a tree in starbucks.

Who is ready to start their holiday vacation, raising hand!! I can't wait for a week of holiday bliss, eggnog, great food, drinks, parties and family!
so ready to chill....
xo

1. warm day, 2. to all y'all, 3. Christmas stroll..., 4. happy friday!

the most wonderful time of the year and I am behind in assignments. a real post tomorrow with more dd and a dare i hope!
xo

ps. and i want a bottle brush forest like girlhula in #2 :) with any luck i will find lots on clearance after christmas! :) currently have 5-any hints blogland to where the jackpot of bottle brush tree awesomeness may be found in a brick & mortar shop?.....

weekend glow...

I had a fun weekend shopping, looking at classic episodes of Barefoot Contessa (starting to plan New Year's dinner) and spending time with my little unit, weekends go by entirely too fast!  Finally was able to  wrap some gifts to place under the tree! I hope I am not the only one that looses gifts?! I can't find one that I have Saadiq, :( I hoping to look in one more spot tonight, plus I need to finish up shopping this week!

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I  hung these from my chandelier in the dining room, love the estra glitter they add.

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day 7/8:

Added some more pages to my december daily. Documenting our first snowfall of the season. It is hard to believe that winter hasn't even started yet. It has been really cold here and luckily we escaped another storm over the weekend. On day seven I sewed an overlay to the the red one with a plastic bag. Inside the bag are snowflakes from a die cut sheet that I cut cut down into seperate flakes. Also noting my failed diy last week, lol.

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day: 9

loving these wreaths from the pottery barn catalog = decor crush.

11 days until Christmas, Saadiq and Synai are in the last week of school of 2009 and I can't wait for some extra time off for the holidays!

looking more like christmas+oh happy friday!

wow, can't believe it is Friday again, feels like this day is coming quicker and quicker each week. I am thinking because this time of year is so busy, festive and fun!  My diy wreath for the season is done! I am  beginning to have a collection of these, did a circle one last year! I made this one from a 12' circle I cut from a piece of chipboard. Then I used my circle cutter tool to cut the center out and that is the wreath base. I cut various size strips of fleece from an old fleece blanket that I made years ago. No glue needed here, just tie the strips around the wreath base! Fluff out the strips and attach a ribbon and viola! I need to fluff mine some more but I love the added color! My colors for decor this year are red, silver and white.



day six of my december daily:
totally fun day, had to take photos of all of the shoes left at the door beside s2 shoes.  A simple page, the house is on a overlay w/ journaling.


list 4 for the book of lists: thankful.
pretty much sums up my philosophy of life and to be thankful always.


Have a great weekend, we are expecting snow again this weekend. My sister and I will be doing a bit more christmas shopping tomorrow before the weather hits. Sunday will be spent making crafts, invites for gingerbread house party, listening to christmas tunes and making our snow globes!
xo

on the + side...

i know i said i would have a diy up today, but the diy went oh so wrong. lol, so I started a new one, based on another project I did years  ago. I am sure it has been done in blogland somewhere before because it is so easy! I plan on tackling a "sewing" project as well! I love these little cone trees!  I am hoping they will be easy for a novice like myself.

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on the + side I did find more christmas decorations on sale at ikea (25%off) and now I can wrap some gifts tonight! See the wrapping paper...0.74!  I snagged up two, if you can see behind the white roll, there is a red one too. :) I can't wait for the s2 to go  to sleep tonight and for their suprised faces in the morning!

my bounty:


I am also thinking this will be a fun craft project for us to tackle this weekend while it is snowing on Sunday. I love snow globes and lord knows we have enough tiny toys to use in them, now to find the time to go thrifting for small jars....

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well it seems i have quite a list diy projects brewing,I  feel a craft hangover coming on! :)
see ya tomorrow!
xo

playing catch up.

I am a little behind on my daily, but was able to sneak a few pages here and there. This month has been really busy and fun so far, hopefully I can share what I have been up to soon! :) I was looking thru my previous december daily albums and I am really happy I made them. It was fun to to see where in the process I was shopping, decorating, mood and etc. Even though my style has changed over the years the memories are forever forged to paper and it felt good to know that I have them there for me and my family.
day four:

Putting up the Christmas tree, Saadiq and Synai were so excited to do this and it had to be finished before they went to bed, :). Now I have to wrap some of their gifts to put under the tree! I stamped and embossed the christmas trees but they didn't come out perfect...just rolled with it and stamped some circles that had the same effect. The sewing is from the previous page.

day 5:

I added some of the new Studio Calico Homefront paper to an atc and sprinkled my christmas playlist and paint to the pages. I love christmas music listed are some of my favorite songs:
santa claus go straight to the ghetto- james brown
the christmas song- nat king cole
silent night-the temptations
this christmas- donnie hathaway
rockin' around the christmas tree-brenda lee
silver bells

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yesterday's giveaway winner:
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sylv said...



Cute notebooks!! I'm off to check out her store and blog.
10:38 AM

congrats sylv, please send me your details! We are excited to watch disney's new  christmas cartoon tonight, prep&landing! I love holiday catoons, some how we missed rudolph :(!  Tomorrow is  my company's holiday party, so no post tomorrow but I will have a DIY to share on Thursday!
xo

sponsor intro + giveaway....handmade:modern

Happy Monday!  We are getting closer and closer to Christmas, 18 more days! I hope you had a great weekend, today I want to introduce you to creative blessing's newest sponsor...Handmade: Modern. I asked Elizabeth, the owner of Handmade: Modern, a few questions, enjoy getting to know her!

Any advice to people who are thinking of opening an etsy or online shop but are apprehensive?

Just do it! Starting out slowly is totally fine! I think many crafters (myself included) are so afraid to  fail that we don't give ourselves the opportunity to take a risk. My shop definitely has its slow periods, but I've never regretted opening it. Not one day.

What's on your iPod right now?

Ahhh, I LOVE music! I listen to a little bit of everything. Within the past week, I've purchased songs by Jason Mraz, Taylor Swift, Beyonce, John Mayer Ingrid Michaelson and Lady Gaga.

What are some of your favorite sources of inspiration online?

I can literally waste (er, spend) HOURS being inspired online. Besides Creative Blessing, I love hanging out at Etsy and Flickr. I just discovered Whip Up also...they have some great ideas over there.

How long have you been scrapbooking?

For almost 3 years, but it feels like I've been doing it forever :)

What's one item you can't live without?

Paper! I've ALWAYS loved paper.

How long does it take you to create a project?

It really depends on what it is, but I find that I spend much more time coming up with an idea or concept (sometimes weeks). Once that is in place, I can typically execute my plans fairly quickly (a few hours or a day for more involved projects).

What is your favorite item in your shop?

Right now, it's my brand new "Barbara" TINYbook. My mother-in-law loved my TINY books, but really wanted me to incorporate index cards, which she carries around in her purse. So, we put our heads together and the "Barbara" was born :)  http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=36182339

Elizabeth has generously donated two fabric mini composition notebook covers (notebooks are included!) for today's giveaway! These covers feature two of the beautiful holiday patterns in Basic Grey's Figgy Pudding fabric line. The covers measure roughly 5 ¼”x 3 ¼”. Please leave a comment, if you would like to enter. I will post a winner on 12.8.


thank you Elizabeth, to learn more about Handmade:Modern- blog

oh happy happy happy friday!

it's friiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) lol, had to get that out of my sytem. You know I love this day and we may get some snow tomorrow! It will most likely just stick to the grass but it will be pretty to see, love watching snow fall and everything being covered in white.

Page 3 of my december daily- all about the twinkle. I love Christmas lights, srsly could have them up year round.  Near my job there is a town center that has a street of lights and next week my goal is to go take some shots of their Christmas decor and stuff to add to my daily. I sewed some ki memories lace to the newspaper that was already binded to the mini. I still love the look of the ki lace!
*thank you for all of the nice comments about my daily,i love documenting the holiday season.



I love this picture of Synai and Saadiq putting the star on our tree. It's the best part, right?! Synai was having some technical difficulties, so Saadiq helped her out in some more frames I snapped. I can't wait to scrap these, yes it is OOF but I still love it just the same. I love our little tree too, have a monster one too but couldn't be bothered to get it out-plus we never spend Christmas at home. Tomorrow we will go out to buy a real wreath to make the house smell all nice, sweet and earthy.





Another layout to share from the November kit by kreativity kreatorvillekraft. Keandra created the love element, it is so pretty and easy to use when you can't think of a title.  This (kit) is still avaliable  with amazing papers like Jenni Bowlin ( love me some JB), Scenic Route, Cosmo Cricket and I was so happy to use the Jillibean corrugated alphas too, which was used on this layout. Email Keandra to place an order, I hear the December kit is baggin' as well!

Have a great weekend, mine is going to be busy and fun. I hope you have a great one too!
xo

holiday cheer!

woah, is it Thursday already!! This week has flown by, guess that happens when you have a busy week  but you know that thrills me because that means the weekend is almost here!! Finally was able to decorate the tree last night, proof is the pudding picture above! I love this time of year when everything is all aglow, christmas music 24/7 and the egg nog flows! hmmmm, makes me want to have some right now! I am a day behind on my december daily but I did it, will post pages 3 and 4 tomorrow!



Page 2 is to document that our house is starting to look more festive for Christmas! Having fun with stitching, layering and adding little atc in this mini.



Dare 153 went up yesterday, don't stop_________________. So many possibilities here but for me in this moment is to never stop creating. If you asked me eight years ago what was scrapbooking I would not have been able to tell you or how much joy it brings for me. It really has become an inherent part of who I am and I am thankful for it.
xo

welcome newest sponsor-handmade:modern

So happy to welcome Handmade: Modern as the newest sponsor at creative blessing. Elizabeth has a beautiful shop filled with altered journals (like the Nancy Drew one given away last week), vintage trimmings and mini books

•a look at her shop... handmade:modern•

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If you’re interested in becoming a sponsor, please email me for more info.

december|one.

Okay, this is a super late post because today was bananas and I am typing this post while watching The Hills and The City! This season for the hills has been B-O-R-I-N-G or is it me?! Dare I say that I liked it better with Lauren. The only thing that gets me thru is of course Audrina, Justinbobby and Enzo (so a child actor).  My bad, got sidetracked... here is my first entry into my december daily album.  I am determined to keep up with my mini this year, even if it is just an atc stuck on a page. I kept this page simple= atc, paint, journaling and stickers.



Totally in the holiday mood and starting to deck the halls! I still haven't put up my tree but I have it on the list to do this week! I used to always have my tree up the Saturday after Thanksgiving, but haven't done that in a while. Part of my holiday mantra is to take is easy, chill and go with the flow of the holiday season. breathe.

The December Cocoa Daisy went live last night, I made this little paper banner from the papers in the kit. It made it easy to start the process of decorating for Christmas!



+ a layout about the reasons why I love this time of year. I really love this kit and a lot of the add-ons are already sold out. All of the divas rocked this kit too, I love to see what they create every month!The rest of my gallery can be seen...here



Well off to watch my shows and the news (we may get some snow this weekend)! I highly doubt it though but crossing fingers! I love the first snow of the season.
xo