I finished this layout yesterday while Ethan and Zoey had some playtime outside. I tried to pull out colors from the photos when choosing my patterned papers and embellishments. The game that Zoey is playing in the photos is called ABSeas and is by Discovery Toys. I got it for her probably when she was around three years old and she still loves playing with it. I have fun playing it too!



I painted my chipboard letters with a gold glaze acrylic paint by Making Memories and I love how they turned out.



Supplies for layout: Prism cardstock, Bazzill cardstock + paper frill trims, Chatterbox pp (yellow dot and brown weave), American Crafts Thickers + 3 dimensional felt embellishment), Fancy Pants chipboard letters, Making Memories acrylic paint, and Creative Cafe buttons

She is...

the happy in my heart. I saw a layout in Elizabeth Kartchner's new book, 52 More Scrapbooking Challenges with this title and knew that I wanted to use it on one too. (Please excuse the picture of the layout, the light isn't the best today so my colors are a bit wonky I'm afraid.)



Today will be comprised of getting the final touches together for the Christmas celebration that we are hosting that will be with my family. They will be arriving on Tuesday. I'm pretty excited and so very thankful that they are coming to us this year and that we don't have to travel. Beyond our Christmas celebration, we've got some skiing trips planned and some plans in the works for a special New Year's Eve celebration.

Our Family Christmas

She slept in until about a quarter to eight (which just about never happens) and we all went in the living room together to see if Santa came...and to her pure delight, he did! Special Christmas morning waffles were had after opening our stockings and then we spent the morning opening gifts and playing. The afternoon was made up of testing out the new sled, building snow forts outside and more playing with new Christmas toys.

So thankful for this little family and for this perfect and blessed day.

Wishing You a Merry Christmas!

Our Christmas Celebration with Ethan's Family...

or perhaps better put, the Christmas that Zoey got her very first pair of pink cowgirl boots.



Grandma and Grandpa Jahnke made this little girl really, really happy!



The look on her face when she opened up the boots was just priceless. Complete with both hands on her head in complete disbelief. You can't tell from the pictures but the boots actually light up when she walks. What else could a little girl possibly ask for?



Here is the complete Jahnke clan with our little munchkin thrown in:



Here are Ethan's parents with Zoey:



And one of just Ann and Ken:



Here is Ethan and his sister Serena:



and I love this series of photos of Uncle Ashley, Aunt Serena and Zoey:











Ashley and Serena:



And someone asked if I had a timer on my camera this year and I do! Totally forgot about that, so here was my try at setting it and running into the picture for a group shot:



It was a wonderful time spent with family and I am so thankful that there are so many people in Zoey's life that love her so much. We are truly blessed.

January Sneak Peek for Mosh Posh!

Just a drive by post here to remind you to check out the sneak peek for the January Mosh Posh kit. We just got back into town from our first Christmas celebration of the season that was with Ethan's side of the family (which was great!) and now after seeing this sneak, I can't wait to start playing with this charming kit, once I get my hands on it that is! Maybe Santa's elves will give me the gift of some free time this year? =) Hint..hint!

Also be sure to check out the Creative Imaginations blog for some holiday crafting inspiration. They have been posting special projects that were created by the design team as well as contributing designers' for the special 12 Days of Christmas Giveaways that has been going on for the past week or so.

Santa's elves are pretty busy here now getting the last little bits and bobbles put together for a certain special little girl. Hoping to get the wrapping done tonight and tomorrow, if all goes well, we'll be baking the cut-outs that will be for Santa and his reindeer tomorrow as well. Tis' the season to be jolly! Ho..ho..ho!

The Asril Premiere Event

Some of Ethan's student's have been working on creating a feature length film for over three years now and the premiere for it was last night at our local cinema. The writer and director of the film is just 17 years old. Ethan was in the film which meant that we got to walk the "red carpet" last night with the cast and crew complete with arriving in a limo. To say that we had fun would be putting it lightly. It was so neat to be right there with the kids in their moment of glory. I was so proud of them. They were so excited (and so deservedly so) and I have to think that there will be a day in the not so far off future when I see the name Jory Federighi and it will be attached to some major film in Hollywood. This kid is seriously talented and has the drive to make it wherever it is that he decides to go. If he is this ambitious at just 17 I can't even imagine where he'll be in ten years time.

Here is the movie poster:



Below is a picture of most of the actors in the film (the young lady who played one of the leading roles is missing because she had a basketball game).



What a dynamic crew...



We arrived in a limo and got to walk the red carpet...here is the limo waiting behind the theatre.





A picture of the marquee showing their movie listed!



A silhouette shot of Ethan with the marquee...



The shot below is of Ethan and the director of the film himself...what an awesome kid!



After the first showing of the film the cast and crew and a select group of others were invited to attend an after "party" where you could see "behind the scenes" photos, props, wardrobes, etc.







Here is the trailer to the film:



It was filmed right here where we live and some shots were taken from the Porcupine Mountains so it was really neat to see all the familiar places featured throughout the film.



These kids have so much to be proud of!

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Another reason that this was a special night...Zoey had her first ever babysitter that was not family or a mother of a friend. We've never left her at night either, so this was a pretty big deal.

And it's safe to say that she absolutely loved it and had a blast. Thank you (chicken) Patty! =)

Paper Dolls

I stumbled upon these adorable paper dolls that you can download for FREE at WeeWonderfuls. Click on her "Freebies" button and you'll find it (or just click here).

Paper Globe Ornaments

My friend Misty, who is also a co-worker has been whipping up some paper ornaments for Paper Studio classes and I just had to try making some myself! For this one (the easiest one), you just use either circle punches or scalloped circle punches and make three folds on each one (we used a cardboard triangle template that we made up to make this part go faster) and then use adhesive to glue the folds together. They end up being super cute when finished! If you google "paper globe ornaments" you can get some pretty good tutorials for this project as well as see several different variations.

Meeting Santa...

Last weekend Santa made a special trip here to the Northwoods and so we ventured out to meet him for the first time in real life. See how she's twirling her hair there with her hands? That's how you know just how big of a deal it was for her.



She was totally prepared with her letter in hand and they went through it together (she is learning about question marks at the moment...)



They also had trains set up which I dare say, may have been even more exciting than Santa...













Here was the Conductor...



who Zoey got to meet and was in awe of as well...



Pretty lucky that we have all this fun stuff going on right here at home...and this year has been really fun just because Zoey is at that perfect age where she's really getting into it. Love this time of year!