Not Ordinary

Geez, I've been a bad blogger again...things are getting quite busy at home and we haven't even really started preparing for Christmas! Luis' exams are in 2 weeks and Nadya 2 weeks after that...cutting it too close to Christmas! Here's a LO of Bianca I finished recently -- I know I'm her mother but isn't she just adorable???.

Title: I'm Not Your Average Girl

Materials: Patterned papers - Cosmo Cricket, October Afternoon; Transparency - Hambly; Bling - Heidi Swapp; Ballooons - American Crafts; Chipboard Butterfly - Scenic Route; Paint - Kaisercraft; Glitter - Pink Paislee, Ranger Distressed Stickles; Sticker - 7 Gypsies; Cardstock - DCWV, Bazzill; Pen - American Crafts; Others - Crackle Medium, fiber

Journaling: Bianca turns 2 small green balloons into very girl's must-have accessory! Sept 2009

The Countdowns Start!

Yup, you read it right! In our home, the Christmas decorations start coming up the moment Halloween is over -- in our case, some of the decor was up even before Halloween was over -- and so have the kids started making their wish lists.

If only what Nadya said was true "It's ok to put expensive toys on the wish list because it's free since it's from Santa!" How can you argue with that kind of logic?

I made a Christmas countdown last year but I sent that out for publication (toot for me!) and I haven't gotten it back (I hope I get it back at all since I haven't gotten any responses to my queries..boohoo).

So just in case it doesn't get back in time, and before I get a headache from my kids asking me several times a day "How many more days 'til Christmas?", I decided to make another one...with a twist, of course.

This time there are 3 countdowns -- to Christmas Day, to our wedding anniversary on Dec 30 (10 years this year!) and to New Year's Day.

Check out Nikki Sivils Scrapbooker adorable Christmas line "North Pole Lights" -- not your traditional Christmas colors, so they are very versatile.

And since I'm starting so early this year, here's hoping my kids willactually stop fighting over who gets to change the numbers on the countdown -- since they have 2 months to do it!

Please forgive the dark pics, I'll have to take more shots in daylight tomorrow!

Update: new photos taken 11-16-2009, in case you start calculating number of days:)