Snow Day!

It is snowing like crazy here today.  It's predicted that we will receive 6-12 inches of snow.  Six inches is manageable, but twelve is a different story.  Thankfully today is a work holiday for me, so I can stay home.  I feel bad for those who have to go out in this.  It's the perfect day for a blanket and a book!

Kiefer had a great Christmas.  He was pretty lazy all day.  He even fell asleep on Mark's lap while we were unwrapping gifts.  He received a new bed which he is sleeping in right now.  It's a little bigger than his old one just "in case" we ever get another dog.  If so, they could sleep in it together!  He also got a new pad for his crate.  He's going to love it since he likes to sleep in there during the day.  This one has some nice padding.  That's it.  No new toys because he gets those all during the year.

Here he is posing by the Christmas tree right before we opened gifts yesterday.  He's so handsome!

~~~Valerie

Merry Christmas All!

 

Joy to the World , the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing.

Joy to the World, the Savior reigns!
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.

The Journey of a Kit

I really do love the kits from C'est Magnifique.  It arrives in a rather boring looking "priority mail" box that the mail-person slings on the front porch.  Thankfully it has lots of packing tape on it.  It has lived a rough life getting to me, but when I open it, the magic begins.  It starts with some lovely 2-sided paper.  The January kit has this beautiful line from Ruby Rock-it:

"Mother Nature Collection"

The kit embellishments........well that's a secret right now.  We don't reveal the entire kit until the 26th of each month.   Back to that boring white "priority mail" box.  You see the kit and all the wonderful embellishments are quite enough on their own to make many beautiful layouts, but if you want to go a little further, there are also two add-ons available (and they fit quite nicely in the box along with everything else).  Here's a look at the add-ons for January:

Flower Add-on where you will find some Prima and Making Memories posies:

And then there's the Embellishment Add-on that  has an additional alphabet and just the right goodies to add to your layouts.

Now I'd like to show you how I used the January kit to create a wintery layout.  Yes the lovely paper has some butterflies and birds, but when I looked at this sheet of paper, I saw winter.  It just needed some white stuff, so I pulled out the white mist, some gesso,  and some Deco-Art Snow Tex.  This is a photo of my darling granddaughter, Eryn,  taking our little Kiefer for a walk on a snowy day last winter.

A Giveaway!

Head over to the C'est Magnifque Kits Blog for a chance to win Leslie's Bits & Pieces from her December Kit.  It sure is a beautiful kit!  Here's what Leslie is giving away:

Speaking of the December Kit, here's one of my design team projects.  This is my awesome niece, Abby.  She's beautiful, but not a frilly-type girl so I try to hold back on all the frou-frou, but it just isn't a layout to me if it doesn't have some flowers.   

~~~Valerie

Another Great Sketch

Wow, it's December already.  Can you believe it?  The December sketch was just posted today on the C'est Magnifique Kits blog HERE.  You've got the entire month to work with the sketch.  Here is a look at the sketch and the layout I created using the sketch and the December Kit, "Silent Night".

This is my sweet nephew, Keegan.   I love how he curls his tongue.  

He's not a baby anymore, but he sure is sweet

~~~Valerie