Merry Christmas in July!!!

Today is the actual day of my traditional Christmas in July Celebration. Overeating, secret santa gift exchange, and Christmas carols will begin around 6:00pm. I'm looking forward to it, but not nearly as much as I am looking forward to announcing the winners of my giveaway from the Scrap Our Stash Blog Hop!

I am so appreciative of everyone who stopped by, made comments, and became followers of my blog! I hope you all enjoyed the hop and found some inspiration along the way!!! I wrote everyone's name on a piece of paper, turned them over, shuffled them, and drew names for the winners. I usually have help with this part, but I wanted to get these posted sooner rather than later



The winner of the December Daily album and leftover supplies is:

Froggy530

Froggy530 said...
Your mini album is too cute. I really love that line of papers and embellies. thanks for the chance to win!
July 22, 2010 7:44 AM

The winner of the random Christmas RAK from my stash is:

Michele

Michele's Scrapy Creations said...
Just love your Dec Daily. I'm planning to do one this year. I can't wait to get start.
July 22, 2010 6:50 PM

Please contact me via email at RachLHawkins at gmail dot com with your name and mailing address and I will send these out ASAP!!!


Some exciting events are on the horizon here...

On Wednesday I will debut a new topic on my blog and I'm so very excited about new adventures!

The All About Me 1 Year Anniversary Celebration will begin on August 1st

We will have fabulous challenges, a blog hop, and many chances to win some FABULOUS prizes!!!

SOS- Christmas in July Blog Hop

Welcome to the Scrap Our Stash Christmas in July Blog Hop. If you did not come here from Scrap Our Stash go back and follow the blog hop in order. This will allow you to discover the secret phrase which will make you eligible for the grand prize.

One of my favorite traditions is Christmas in July. At Horn in the West, we are only together from June until August, but we are like family and it is tradition to celebrate Christmas in July with a huge meal and a gift exchange. I'm so happy to share this with you all through the Scrap Our Stash Blog Hop.

Last year was my first time participating in Ali Edward's December Daily and I LOVED IT! Christmas is my favorite time of year and it was such a blast creating an entire album for December. Since I loved it so much, I decided I was definitely going to do it again this year. I pulled out last year's Little Yellow Bicycle collection- which I love- and created a mini album for this blog hop!








My word of the secret phrase is : of

Since I'm in the Holiday spirit- I'd like to give away two prizes to anyone who comments on this blog post.

The first prize will be the December Daily featured in this post and the coordinating papers, tags, and stickers that are leftover so that you can put your own finishing touches on the album.

The second prize will be an assortment of Christmas themed goodies from my stash (the challenge blog is called Scrap our STASH!) which includes pretty papers, stickers, chipboard embellishments, ribbons, and who knows what else I'll throw in there!

All you have to do to be eligible for my prizes is comment on this post! I will draw names on Monday morning so, make sure you have commented by Sunday evening- 11:59 EST.

Happy Hopping- your next stop is Angie's blog.

Scrappy: Silent Night, Holy Night

One of my favorite traditions is the midnight service on Christmas Eve. At the very end of the service, the lights are dimmed and candles are lit while we all sing Silent Night. It is the most perfect way to ring in Christmas morning.
Here is a layout about that tradition using the December Kit from The Nook.





It's snowing...a lot. Prepare for more blogging as I'm snowed in!

December Daily-December 7th & 8th

Days are shorter, temperatures are dropping everyday and I'm really feeling the spirit of Christmas more each day!

I know I shared this page the other day, but I added the program from my Chamber Singers concert.


I was so thrilled that so many of my friends (and Wes) came to hear me sing. I felt so special!




We've been pulling out decorations and cleaning in preparation for a big decorating weekend! I'm having a great time keeping up with all of these memories!

Are all of your decorations up? We are nowhere close!

December Daily-Page Two

Last night we collected the gifts donated by church members and processed them to take to the Wilkes Ministry of HOPE for Christmas. It was wonderful to see the toys that we are donating as well as the increasing amount of non-perishable food that we are collecting for Communities in Schools.

Here is my page about the toy drive:




On the back of the page I journaled about listening to Christmas music for the first time. I've been rehearsing Advent and Christmas music for a couple of months, but I put off listening to recorded Christmas music until yesterday. I was listening to a story on NPR and heard a gospel version of "Jesus, What A Wonderful Child" and it gave me chills and I've been singing it ever since!

Jesus, Jesus, Oh what a wonderful Child.
Jesus, Jesus, so lowly meek and mild.
New life, new hope, new joy He brings.
Won’t you listen to the angels sing!
Glory, glory, glory to the newborn King!

I'm going to start a new project tonight so hopefully I'll have something to share with you tomorrow in addition to my December Daily!

Catching up

I made this Baby's First Christmas Album for a friend using the Bo Bunny word album and K & Company Peppermint Twist papers. I feel like it needs a little bit more bling, but I love the colors for a little girl's First Christmas album.




I created this album for my 24th Birthday celebrations. (January 16th!!!) It was a class kit from Bo Bunny for a Holiday Agenda that I knew I would never use. I loved the papers and since I am a winter baby I decided to use the kit for my (hopefully) awesome birthday that is coming up!



I am working on a 25 by 25 list of things I would like to do in the coming year. I did not make any New Year Resolutions because I thought that I would be able to keep the changes if I made it into a more detailed list. I plan on putting a list of those things I want to accomplish in my birthday album.

And last, but not least...the card I made for the caardvarks challenge blog. (These challenge blogs are somewhat addictive!) I used the leftover paper from the Bo Bunny Family Album I made for Thanksgiving. I'm not usually a fall lover, but I really love the colors of the Beautiful Life paper collection. I think this is a really sweet card, maybe I will send it to someone next fall...

I think that is all for tonight. 

Gifting

As a Makers Mark Ambassador I occasionally get really neat things. Last week I received a package from them that included wrapping paper, gift tags, and ribbon. This is by far the coolest thing I have received from them. 

I wrapped a present with the paper and used a gift tag, but I opted for a bow rather than the ribbon. 

I would like to show off what is inside the paper, but I don't want to ruin a surprise. 

Secret Santa

I received the most awesome secret santa present yesterday (but I didn't have internet to update my blog!) Erin sent me the softest scarf in the world, a pink and black DANCE frame, scrapbook stickers, a great card, and even a stocking with toys for Kitty.

Kitty loves her present!

She played with the monkey all night long!

Cuddled up in my soft soft scarf!!!


Thank you Erin!

What I want for Christmas...

More time...

I wish I had more time to craft.  I see so many wonderful things I want to try, but I cannot find the time to be so adventurous. I have felt inspired to choreograph, scrap, and try new things. I am putting together a list of 25 by 25 that will be made public sometime around my 24th birthday 

(January 16th). One of the things on my list will be to make a piece of wall art. I have been reading lots of crafty blogs recently and have discovered some really creative people. 

This wall art came from How About Orange:

I was thinking about using a fabric similar to this

I found the material on Fabric Supplies and I'm trying to decide if I would like the black or brown better. 

Love Actually

The opening monolouge of Love Actually

Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaking suspision love actually is all around.

I love watching this movie at Christmastime. It always puts me in the best mood and I always cry at least twice.

I have more to say...but I guess it can wait until tomorrow.

Bells

Tonight was my first bell choir practice. I was HORRIBLE! 

What I learned:

1- I can't count to 3, 4, or 6. 

2- I have no rhythm.

3- Turning pages and ringing bells is a near impossible task. 

4- I only have one real practice left before Christmas Eve. 

5- I don't know my right from my left.

Someone said that I had a look of terror on my face throughout the entire rehearsal. That pretty much says it all.

Practice makes a little bit better I guess...

Photo From L-T-L

The Advent Wreath

Today at church I made an Advent Wreath.
The circle of the wreath and the evergreen that make it up both signify God's endless mercy and undying love. I used three purple candles and one pink candle. The first candle is to be lit the first week of Advent (this week) and then an additional candle is lit each week until Christmas. The pink candle will be lit the third Sunday of Advent. I am in search of a larger white candle that will be added to the center of the wreath to be lit on Christmas Eve to signify the Light of Christ.