And all this talk about turkey make me think about our turkey tradition. The first Christmas my brother and his wife lived together they found themselves in the company of a turkey. A dead one. And that is a story without a happy ending:)

Later it became a tradition to put a turkey in the oven on the evening December 23. As most young parents it was a struggle to get everything ready for the big celebration December 24. When the turkey was done the magic of Christmas had arrived. Only – they never were good with the timing. Some years the turkey wasn`t done before long into the night. And for years the only thing we got served was the turkey. Then there was cold potatoe from the day before. Then there were potatoe salad. And year by year a little something were added until it became a feast out serving the turkey.

When the boys were old enough to have steady girlfriends it became a tradition to invite the new “in-laws” to the turkey dinner on December 23. I am sure about one thing – not everyone was happy about that invitation – on the busiest day in the year:) And I can remember some Christmas Eve`s we have been tired after too much vine.

Template – Cathy Zielske. Paper – K.Pertiet – Joulenaika.

December 23 – 2007. Our “princess” helping grandma and grandpa getting the turkey ready. I still think this is an ugly animal. Not so with baby Elin. I have to remind myself about the fact that this little girl is raised in a kindergarten with a farm where they call the pig Bacon and after feeding and cuddling him – they eat him.

This year we will have our turkey feast the second day in Cristmas when everyone is home and can attend.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you who celebrate!

Before I got married I had six theories about bringing up children; now I have six children, and no theories.  ~John Wilmot

While we don’t have six kids I believe this quote is so appropriate. I remember what I used to think before I had kids when I saw other parents struggling with their kids. Yes I even said to myself, “That will never happen when I have kids.”  I had read all the books, worked with kids of all ages, and was very confident that I wouldn’t fall into the pitfalls of other parents – until we had Jamin.

Now we have Jamin and Mya and my theories are out the window. I understand every single one of the parents who had to deal with kids throwing fits in public when I looked upon them with that know-it-all attitude of “Why don’t they do something?” Ahhhhhh…parenting it’s one life’s greatest blessings and challenges all rolled up into one. So for all those parents I held my nose up to back in the day, as I now eat my daily humble pie, this quote is for you.

I’ve been neglecting this blog too much lately! I actually have a reason. I got a new blog on blogger so head on over to check it out.

… to express yourself without words?…

Then you know how I feel. That’s why this blog is not about words. It’s about emotions and feelings that we can’t always describe.
Using ordinary pictures and the art of Digital Scrapbooking, I am trying to create beautiful and outstanding memories for me, my family and my friends.

If you discover this passion and need help with it, don’t hesitate to contact me by leaving a comment on any page.

Enjoy Scrapbooking!

This one is for the search challenge at CatScrap:

I love all the pages I’m finding the galleries using the Contemporary Collage Templates.  The adorable Christmas Morning by DogwoodMama makes use of the templates as well as my Petite Pebbles Alpha and one of my favorite Christmas/Winter kits ever, Little Joys by Zoe Pearn.  The journaling is a sweet note about her joy at watching her young granddaughter experience the fun of opening presents.  I’ll be celebrating Christmas with a 2 year old girl this year and am looking forward to the same.

Congrats DogwoodMama, check your pms at SSD for your $10 gift certificate to my shop.

Credits:  Frame from House of 3 digital kit by The Design District (Ornate Frame 3); Kraft Paper by JSprague

Lumberjacks are usually referred to loggers from a bygone era before the advent of modern logging equipments.  The inception of the modern lumberjacks started as a competition in old lumber camps to see who the best lumberjacks were.  Today these competitions continue, keeping traditions alive.

Southeast Alaska’s rich logging history comes to life in a thrilling display of nimbleness, energy and power.  A must see when in Ketchikan, we walked a short distance from the pier to a covered grandstand where rugged professional timber athletes competed head to head in events such as speed climbing, ax throwing, chopping and sawing.  Hosted by a very engaging host who referees this riotous competition.  She splits the group in half and assigns each group a team to root for, adding excitement and entertainment to the show.

Watching th0se cute hunks alone make the show worth its US$36.    tee hee!

Head over to The Little Red House for more photo mosaics from all over.

    Steffi continues to be a delight.  I’ve had at least four of her teachers at church and school pull me aside to say, “I just love her.  She is just so wonderful. She is so sweet.”  That is true.  Yet she has also become rather stubborn at times and she will deliberately slow down when we are trying to get somewhere or get something done.  Although it can be annoying, I know it is good for an “always obedient” child (especially an adopted one) to feel safe enough to disobey sometimes. 

   Another joke, this one from Mollie (I’ll have to make a page about it).  I was praying for the girls and thanking God for each one being special, and playing on a book I read the kids all the time which talks about all kids being the favorites of the parents, I said, “and we thank you God for our Steffi, who is always everyone’s favorite.” 

Mollie burst out, “She’s not MY favorite!”

Sophie and I looked up and laughed.

“Well,” stammered Mollie, “She’s NOT!”

I guess we need to work on the “love others” part of the Great Commandment.

New Images Available for My Digital Studio!

Stressing about your Christmas cards yet? Stress no more! As of today, there are seven new digital downloads for My Digital Studio available, including several holiday-themed kits that will make your Christmas projects a breeze!

Talk to your customers today and let them know about these new digital downloads. They may also be wondering what to do about their Christmas projects, and with these new downloads available, you have a great reason to talk to them about all the creative possibilities that exist with My Digital Studio!

Use the search keyword DWNLDA in OEX to see the new images, and place your orders today! 

It is time for Thanksgiving Scrapbooking Projects, but first you must get the photos, then scrap the holiday event!

What about taking photos of “Thanksgiving firsts” for your scrapbooking projects. For example, a new baby’s first Thanksgiving, a daughter/son’s first time to cook the turkey, and a grandfather’s first time to play Wii or other video games!  The scrapper should take some pictures of these “firsts” and put the photos into a scrapbooking album of Thanksgiving “firsts”!

In this image, I scrapped my daughter and son-in-law’s first Thanksgiving they hosted! It was so much fun – read about it and Turkey ideas in this blog: Let’s Talk Turkey! Digital Scrapbooking the Turkey Experience!

Here are some extra tips for Taking Thanksgiving photos:

• Make sure your digital camera’s battery is charged
• If you will be busy – leave disposable cameras around to get others to help with the picture taking too!
• Give a teenager a camera and a list of photos to look for and ask them to make sure and cover this events

Don’t forget to get some good Thanksgiving Digital Scrapbooking supplies to make the digital scrapbooking pages after Thanksgiving!

Do you like the digital scrapbooking kit we use in this article? If so check it out in our Scrap Shop.

The Autumn Days Digi Scrapbooking Kit features a digital scrapbooking kit filled with beautiful autumn-inspired digital papers, embellishments, WordArt, bows, and more! Even though you can’t hang onto autumn forever, you can hang onto special autumn memories with a coordinating digital scrapbooking kit! Paper size is 12×12″

Whether you visit the pumpkin patch, going for a hay ride, or just spending a day outside with the stunning fall foliage, take photos and scrap them using the Autumn Days Digi Scrapbooking Kit. Mix and match the digi papers and season-inspired digi supplies to create special seasonal scrapbooks of you and your family!

See the The Fall Colored Leaves Digital Scrapbooking Kit is a full-featured digital scrapbooking kit filled with beautiful fall-inspired digital papers, embellishments, WordArt, and more!  Fall memories with a coordinating autumn leaf colors kit! Paper size is 12×12″ Whether you are playing in the foliage or raking up the fallen leaves in your yard, this kit is great to use for your digi pages. Scrap a visit to a pumpkin patch, a hay ride, a corn maze, or just spending a day outside with the stunning fall foliage, take photos and scrap them using the Fall Colored Leaves Digi Scrapbooking Kit. Mix and match the digi papers and season-inspired digi supplies to create special seasonal scrapbooks of you and your family!

Start scrapping all the Autumn, or Thanksgiving events with digital pages that are perfect for digitally scrapbooking photos of Fall events! Use the Quick Pages to slip a photos underneath for a completed digital scrapbooking page !

Want to Scrap Quickly?  Get Fall Quick Pages!

The Fall Foliage Quick Page Digital Scrapbooking Kit 1 is a digital scrapbooking kit that features 5 Fall-inspired digital scrapbooking Quick Pages. Quick Pages are the easy way to do digital scrapbooking, just slip a photo underneath and you are done!

Yes, it is that easy! The paper size for this kit is 12×12″ – which is perfect for your large digi scrapbooking albums!

See the other Fall or Thanksgiving Digital Scrapbooking Kits, Thanksgiving Brushes, Fall Quick Pages or other Holiday Supplies!

Take a look at the  Thanksgiving Brush Set too!

This adorable Brush Set is available just in time for Thanksgiving! Give thanks and create your own Thanksgiving-themed digital scrapbooking pages with perfectly paired holiday brushes!

This set comes with all kinds of holiday brushes: from Fall leaves, to a Thanksgiving turkey, a pumpkin and even a cornucopia!

Get other Fall and Thanksgiving Scrap Kits at the Scrap Shop

Also buy The Getting Started Series in Digital Scrapbooking for Photoshop or Photoshop Elements Training!

Credits:  Sunshine Artz template 04, Grand Intention Kit: JSprague Type Red and Yellow Solid papers

The Southernmost sizable city in the state of Alaska is Ketchikan, also known as the salmon capital of the world.  Its economy thrives on tourism and fishing and in the native village of Saxman, tourists flock to view a strand of totem poles some 30-40 feet tall.   Its totem pole park boasts of the single largest collection of totems.

Totem Poles are like billboards, signposts or tombstones, telling stories and honoring heritage.  They used to be mistakenly thought as religious symbols of worships and many were burned as a result.

Good thing original carvers of totem poles still live in the area now known as Alaska’s “Inside Passage” and are members of the Tlingit , Haida and other clans.

In a shed near the village is Tlingit’s famous carver Nathan Jackson.  We got to see his workstation sans the carver.  He is normally there carving but unfortunate for us, he was unavailable at the time of visit.

It’s official, I received the email from Stampin’ Up that I am now a certified MDS demonstrator. So that means I’m supposed to know tonnes about it. I do love it but am still learning every time I use it. My 2010 calendar is almost ready to send to the printer and I’m in the midst of creating a lovely scrapbook about our dog, Echo.

Every year when one of my two daughters turn another year older I design a scrapbook layout celebrating them. I like to list their likes and dislikes, such as fav color, fav food, non-fav food, fav tv shows, nickname…just fun things about them. This layout is purely digital except for the hand print of my daughter who just turned three years old. After receiving the digital print back from Winkflash I painted up Parker’s hand with white acrylic paint and stamped her hand print onto green cardstock. After it dried I cut it out and taped it to the layout then framed it. I have 2 frames that hang in the entryway of our home that I rotate layouts featuring my daughters.

I finally decided how I wanted to display my prompts for December! I used the magnetic cookie sheet idea since I didn’t have a clipboard. I used the freebie paper provided, some old greeting cards, ribbon and a memories sticker from Micheal’s, and then I made a small digi scrap of Grant playing in leaves using the “All I Want” series from Sweet Shoppe Designs. Perfect! Glad Grant took a good nap this morning

I found a great digital scrapbooking kit on the Wacom Pen Scrapping site. It inspired me to try a couple of layouts that give the feel of dreaming or imagination. It was so fun to put the layouts together.

Die Vorlage dieser Woche (verspätet am Donnerstag) ist „z koperta“ von kasia. Im Hintergrund ein vergilbter Briefumschlag, im Vordergrund ein weisses Blatt Papier, leer und frei für alles, das in diesem Brief stehen könnte. Es könnte natürlich auch ein Foto sein, schwarz-weiß mit Rahmen, wie sie unsere Großeltern besaßen.

Doch egal, ob es nun ein Foto oder ein Brief ist – beides auf eine ganz eigene Art eine Geste an den Gegenüber, den Adressaten und ein Vermächtnis für die Nachwelt. Mit dieser Vorlage lassen sich Videos, Fotos, aber auch ganze Briefe auf dem Bildschirm und in Videoform übermitteln. Briefe aus der Heimat, in die Heimat, Hochzeitsfotos, Babyfotos, Videos aller Art. Liebesbriefe, die man nicht in Worte fassen kann, Kochrezepte und neue Autos.

Bilder sagen mehr als tausend Worte, deshalb möchte ich heute diese Vorlage für sich sprechen lassen.

Sarah Conor, „From Sarah with Love“

The Box Tops, „The Letter”

Hoobastank featuring Vanessa Amorosi, „The Letter”

Thanksgiving is just around the corner and you might be looking for some helpful tips or resources. If so check these out!

Article 1: How do You Picture Thanksgiving? Getting Holiday Digital scrapbooking photos!

Article 2: Make Ahead Thanksgiving Helps and Digital Scrapbooking Ideas!

Article 3: Let’s Talk Turkey! Digital Scrapbooking the Turkey Experience!

Article 4: Fall Apple Pies and Digital Scrapbooking Recipes

Get a Free Thanksgiving Digital Scrapbooking Tag!

Maybe you would like a FREE Thanksgiving Tag too? If so take a look at how you can get FREE digital scrapbooking supplies by signing up  for the FREE Digital scrapbooking News!

Hurry and get this FREEBIE! Don’t miss out, as this offer expires 11/23/2009 (FREEBIES are for personal use only!)

Read more about this Freebie at FREE Thanksgiving Digital Tag for Thanksgiving Digital Scrapbooking Pages!

Take the FREEBIE Digital Scrapbooking Thanksgiving Tag and use it with your Digital Photos, Digital Scrapbooking Embellishments, Paper and other Digital Scrapbooking Supplies to make great Digital Scrapbooking Projects!

Get Digital Scrapbooking Supplies that go with the FREEBIE!

Want to get other digital supplies that match with your digital FREEBIE? This Digital Scrapbooking Frame FREEBIE coordinates with the Fall Colored Leaves Digital Scrapbooking Kit

More help with digital scrapbooking tasks before the holidays:

See these resources for more information and help in digital scrapbooking just in time for Thanksgiving Digital Scrapbooking Projects!

Scrapbooking Helps 1: Quick Tip: Filter Tip 1 – Use a Filter on a photo or in a Digital Scrap Project using Photoshop Elements Or Photoshop

Scrapbooking Helps 2: Quick Tip: Adding a Glow to WordArt in Elements

Scrapbooking Helps 3: Quick Tip: Finding the Arrow Tool in Elements

Find out more about using Digital Scrapbooking in Traditional Scrapbooking too!

Have you ever want to know how traditional scrapbookers are getting in on the digital craze too? See this article to learn more

Article 1: Traditional Scrapbookers Need Digital Scrapbook Training too!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Enjoy!

Well, I found a great site with 2010 Calendar grids so this coming year I’m working on my own calendars and monthly desktops instead of just relying on templates made by other people. I like having the freedom to make what I want! So, I’ve started working on calendar pages for 2010 – I’ve only made it through May so far, but you can see them all here.

I am making them all 12×12 right now b/c I haven’t decided how I want to print/present them yet. Mother has already said, “These are my Christmas present, right!?!?” Well, since she has seen them it won’t be much of a surprise! Really it wouldn’t be a surprise for anyone now that they are online & everyone can see them – Grannie doesn’t have a computer, though – it would still be a surprise for her!!

I really like the grids I found b/c they are very simple and didn’t have the months labeled so for different projects I can use whatever font I want – for this calendar I’m using my most favorite-ist font – Scriptina!! That’s really everyone’s favorite, though isn’t it?? Honestly, though I cannot believe that there were so few calendar grids out there for use. It took me a long time searching to find this set. I mean, I know they aren’t hard to make (I was just being lazy and didn’t want to take the time), but all the calendars I found were already on templates mostly – already pre-designed and ready for pictures. And that’s great unless you want to create a design around your pics!

It’s been awhile since I posted a freebie here on the blog.  This alpha was a gift to newsletter subscribers several weeks ago, but I thought I’d post it here for those of you who hadn’t had a chance to grab it yet.  If you aren’t signed up and want to get freebies like this almost weekly, as well as information about new products and notes about new tutorials, you can sign up here. I won’t bombard you with emails.   You can expect a newsletter 3-4 times a month.