The New Idea Book with CTMH is here and check out this great pic we can now post online... just had to share.

I love the colors in the this book..the papers are great for boys and girls. You can purchase one from me or I will put one in your order for FREE with a $30 purchase. What a great way to get some creative ideas.

So I mentioned that I would show you what the My Pages Talk Voice Recorder was and here it is. I already decorated it but it come with white paper on it and great instructions. I used mine to record the voices of my boys telling me what they wanted from Santa... Oh let me tell you ADORABLE!!! Anyway I plan on putting this in my book. Can you imagine.. 10 years from now being able to look back at these pages and seeing how cute the kid are and hearing their little voices in a book. Oh it gives me goosebumps. So it cost 14.95 and is 3 3/4" x 2 3/4" x 1/4" for one...but how cool they would make a scrapbook page. Oh another idea might be to have your kids sing a song and send it to a loved one as a gift. I may have to get a few more. Enjoy!

I am going to SEATTLE!!! Well not permanantly just for a convention..and not even for scrapbooking. I am going the last week in Febuary to the T^3 International Convention. Those of you with high school or college students have probably heard of TI..Texas Instruments the calculator company. My real job is a high school Math teacher and I get to go to the convention fully funded by my district. It is the most beneficial professional development I have ever had. No it is not all about how to push buttons...but that is a big part. But rather about how to get students excited about learning math and how to get them to discover math concepts using the calculator. One day I will take a picture of what my classroom looks like and show you all the technology I have...IT IS AWESOME!!. I hope your children have teachers as excited about learning and showing kids things as I can get. I try not to act all nerdy.. but it is there.

Well last night we went to meet Santa. The Parents as Teachers organization had crafts, cookies the gym open and of course the big man himself. Caleb for the first time sat on his lap and told him exactly what he wanted. Dan and I were shocked that he did it since last year was such a disaster. Josh on the other hand...even with Caleb up there...would not! He hide behind Daddy and sucked his thumb..then he shouted "I don't want to see Santa". We tried to remind him that Santa is the one that gives the presents so we have to tell him what we want. Being 2 he replied "then I don't want ANYTHING"!! Well I guess it will be a cheap Christmas for us...jk!!

I did the coolest thing last night and I would soooo advise it for all of you with kids out there. Close to my Heart has something called the My Pages Talk Voice Recorder for 14.95. I recorded the boys in the car on the way to Santa and asked them what they wanted. I got a crisp great recording and I could even re-record till I got them both in during the 30 seconds...which is longer than I thought it was. I will post of pic later this week of it...so cool.

Well Thanksgiving was ok. Josh my youngest was sick so I took Caleb to my side for lunch and then Dan took him to his side for dinner. Josh got some mommy and daddy time at home as he recovered. He is better now.

The cheesecake was a hit!! I was very surprised at how well it turned out. Well time for some artwork.

Here is a card I made using the December Stamp set of the Month Heart throb. I love this pop up design. I sent it into CTMH for a contest so lets see what happens. I will let you know if I get blessed to win something. Life has had it's ups and downs recently. I am starting to think of the things that I am thankful for since Thanksgiving is coming and I am very greatful for the health of my family and the life we have together. I wish my husband had a job right now but the economy has choosen our family to affect. Others out there might be in the same boat but I really feel like this is starting to make me stronger and my family stronger. I wish there was a different way to achieve this goal but this is what was choosen for us so this is the life we are living. But with that being said I am thankful that we have eachother and will grow together. Have a great Thanksgiving.

Well Thanksgiving is tomorrow and I was up tonight making Carmal Pecan Cheesecake (my first attempt at cheesecake). It looks good and hopefully taste good too. I wanted to post a artwork of something I am thankful for so I choose this spread I made.

A couple weeks ago we went on a River Boat cruise with my Sister, Brother in law, and another couple. We 6 bottles of wine in 1 and 1/2 hours between 6 adults. Needless to say we were all a little lite. This layout I used some scraps from my Perfect Day paper pack. At first I wasn't really sold on this paper pack.. to be honest I hated it. But once I saw it in person and what it could look like...with my help that is (I like it alot). I don't really scrap just about Dan and myself but this night was fun we had a camera so what the heck! I am sure we will do something like this again, but for now these memories are cherished.

I have been sick all week and the boys are also sicky. But I still wanted to post some artwork for you to check out. This is a layout I made with my Scrapbooking club in the month of October. This used the Annotations stamp set, Playful lowercase, Solo M, Solo B, and the Evensong Creative Basics paper pack. I love this page and can't wait to put my memories on it for Christmas.