Christmas Cards

I don't have time to add greetings, address and mail the Christmas cards that I made. :( It's a sad day. The first time ever that I haven't sent handmade cards.

Ironically I had 8 hours to make the cards in early November but as the holdiays approached I had no more time to actually send them. I guess I should have done it before Thanksgiving.

Anyway, no card, no picture of the kids, no family update letter this year, but I can show you what you would have gotten had I actually had the time. :)

These are the cards I made:

Holiday Traditions

If you've noticed the flashing button on my sidebar you probably know by now that today kicks off a months worth of posts about the Holidays.

I'm participating in a Holiday Expo sponsored by Internet Cafe Devotions. Every Thursday I will be sharing another aspect of the holidays here in the Grove home. If you want to check out the tips, stories and recipes from the other contributors just click here and follow the links.

Now, to get started....

Before I begin I must tell you all that I am doing this post in secrecy. My husband considers Thanksgiving to be the best holiday of the year and feels that it gets majorly overlooked because of it's position between Halloween and Christmas. He does not allow us to acknowledge the Christmas season in our home (no decor, music, etc) until after Thanksgiving. So....I have to do this post on the sly and hope he doesn't find out about it until it is too late. Sorry, sweetie.

Now, to really get started....

One of my favorite traditions happens way before December 25th. Every year on the first or second weekend of November I gather with 20 or 30 other friends from church and we make our own homemade Christmas cards. And I'm not talking about 10 or 15 cards here. Some years I've made 80 or 90 cards! And here is the best part....its all FREE. Yes, completely, totally, 100% FREE!

A wonderful lady in our church offers these card making days as a ministry. She provides all of the stamps, ink, paper, envelopes and tools you could ever need...and she doesn't just do it at Christmas. We meet for one weekend every other month to make cards to our heart's content. I make all of my own birthday, get well soon, sympathy, Valentine's Day, Easter, Halloween and Thanksgiving cards too. (I'll obviously use any excuse to send a card.) But the Christmas weekend is special.

We have wassail and lots of treats to eat. There are door prizes every hour and we stamp cards for 6 hours on Friday night and 8 hours on Saturday. We try new ideas and copy out of magazines and off of each other. We laugh and joke and work our fingers to the bone. I usually make several different styles because I get bored making 60 of the same card.

Here are three of the nine styles of cards I did this year:

At the end of the weekend my back is killing me but I've got all of my FREE handmade Christmas cards, complete with decorated envelopes, ready to go. It is really an awesome tradition and my friends and family enjoy getting my special cards every year and I have a blast making them. What could be better?

Come back next Thursday to share in our day of Gratitude.

How To Finish 23 Scrapbook Pages in One Day

Step One: Retreat. Retreat. Retreat.

Sign up for a 24 hour scrapbook retreat.

Step Two: Categorize. Clean. Compile

Who could be creative in a space like this? Who could find anything in a space like this? Your scrapbooking area at home may be in desparate need of organization before you can even get ready for the retreat.

Doesn't it look better now?

Step Three: Peruse, Plan, Prepare

Now that you can find your numerous supplies it is time to start planning your pages. Search those magazines for spreads you'd like to imitate (or downright copy totally) and mark them so you can find them easily when you are ready to start.

Take a break to make yet another apple dessert. (Recipe coming tomorrow.)

Step Four: Find, Fiddle, Finish

Yes, now is the time to finish the journaling on the pages that you did last year at the retreat and never took time to complete once you got home. This way you won't be more than one year behind. :)

Step Five: Just One Word.......ARCHIVERS

Step Six: Push, Pull, Pack

Somehow stuff all of your materials (and yourself) into your husband's rather small truck.

Step Seven: Crop. Crop, Crop......'Til You Drop

Warning.....this may require you to sleep for only 3 hours.

Step Eight: Create, Compose, Configure

Come up with 23 cute pages for your ever expanding scrapbooks.