glad to meet you, 2010

 After a fantastic evening surrounded by wonderful friends in my most favorite spot in the world (Cape Cod, MA), I am officially ready to welcome in the New Year. 

We spent last night at the Cape with some of our favorite people cooking up a feast, playing apples to apples, quoting ridiculous movies, and laughing til our stomachs hurt.
I couldn't have asked for more. 

The midnight kiss wasn't bad, either ;-) 

I hope you all enjoyed however you chose to celebrate!

I'm looking forward to 2010 and all the creative endeavors (and blog posts!) it promises to bring.

Here's to a year filled with scrapping, crafting, cooking, photographing, savoring life and...balance. 

Welcome, 2010. I'm glad you're here!

the day after...

Is anyone else still reveling in the Christmas magic by spending the day in their pajamas with someone or something they adore?

Me? Well, I am parked on the couch with mmb and an occasional cat here and there, re-watching the John Adams miniseries on our new bluray player ;-) . I have to get back to it, but wanted to pop in and let you all know that I hope you had a blessed holiday.

A small glimpse of our Christmas day...

 

 Christmas is forever, not for just one day, for loving, sharing, giving, are not to put away like bells and lights and tinsel, in some box upon a shelf. The good you do for others is good you do yourself. ~Norman Wesley Brooks

its beginning to look a lot like christmas

Thank you to everyone who stopped by and made our first blog hop a successful one! I hope you got lots of good ideas from everyone :)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here. We went and got out tree last night and added a little bit more to the decorations. Thanks Nellie, for the idea with the "polaroids" :-) 

I'll let you know a little bit more about the great time we had picking out our tree at another time, it is a great story (or at least I think it is, haha)!

Remember to let someone you love how much you care about them. Life can change in an instant.

can you feel the excitement?? (& some explanations)

We'll start with the explanations first...you may have noticed that things are looking a little strange over here at sunlight & simplicity lately. Things are changing, moving, being added, removed, etc... Well that is all for good reason. When I started this blog is was going to be a tester to see if I was going to be able to "get into" blogging. Turns out, I did. Got hooked in fact. I have "met" so many wonderfully talented and inspiring bloggers and I can't turn back now! So now, since I have decided to keep s&s going, I have been tweaking it a bit. Big changes coming soon, I hope you'll enjoy the new look of my "blogover". I don't want to give too much away, but if you're patient, I'll see to it that you get on the "nice list" this year. Thanks for bearing with me during these changes!

And while I am on the subject of thank you's, I just want to say thank you to everyone who stops by to visit and check out what is going on over here at sunlight & simplicity. I truly appreciate all of the kind comments you have made and enjoy visiting all of your blogs as well.

You have been so kind. I hope you will continue to visit often.

And now, on to the excitement!

It's almost here! Only one more day until the...

Saturday 12/12

12 hours

12 posts

6 Lovely ladies

Start time: 8:00am CT

That's right; on the hour, every hour, for 12 hours there will be a holiday spirited post coming your way in the form of a blog hop between myself and 5 very talented ladies. Be prepared for inspiration to bust out your aprons and scissors and glue guns and so much more. It promises to be a day filled with inspirational ideas to put the homemade back into the holiday season. 

 

I do hope you'll join us.

Check back later today for details!

And to all who are celebrating today, Happy Hannukah!

threes (as in takes on our card and prompt of JYC)

In years past my friends and I have gotten together for a fun night of card making, complete with delicious treats and tasty beverages (mmmm, hot chocolate with peppermint schnapps...). Sadly, this year that just didn't work out with everyone's schedules. Hopefully next year.

I finally had a minute to sit down and construct a design.  After a few attempts, this third take is the winner. At first I was going to do a digital hybrid card using a picture, but I couldn't find one that I liked enough (*note to self:be sure to snap a shot that can be used next year). When that idea didn't pan out I began looking for stamps and found an adorable tree set from Stampin' Up which I was planning on using. That is until I sat down to make them and discovered it would take way too long.

I just don't have the time this year.

So instead, I thought for a minute about what I could do quickly, would convey a seasonal message and still look pretty.

This is what I came up with.

It's simple.

But I like it.

 mmb likes it.

It's a go.
(and yes, that tiny strip of words is the p&p paper I raved about here)

Here's the inside. Before I adhered the paper to the front I just wrote up the sentiment in a word document and then fed the cut card through the top sheet feeder of the printer.

Voila!

Now I just need to repeat this 64 times.

On a similar note, our prompt from Shimelle was to journal about our cards.

Here's my page for Day 3. 

Being laid up with this stomach bug is not fun, but it has afforded me the opportunity to peruse through lots of people's blogs, and I must say, I have "met" some amazingly creative people.

I am so inspired.

There is some serious talent out there in the blogosphere.

Have a nice weekend!

christmas albums

At first I struggled with how I was going to find a balance between Shimelle's Journal your Christmas album with  Jessica Sprague's Holidays in Hand class, but I think I have found a solution that will suit me. I might even throw in some of Ali Edward's December Daily in there.

I love and am inspired by all of the truly beautiful albums that I have seen out there. I marvel at how people can put together a whole album without knowing what is going to be in there first. And although I can definitely see how that would be helpful to have on hand, that just doesn't work for me. What I have decided to do (for this year anyhow) is that I am going to take it one page at a time. I have a stack of papers and embellishments that I want to use in ready to go and will use that to construct my album one page at a time and bind it all together at the end. Perhaps next year when I know what to expect a little more I will be able to have an album pre-made and ready to go, but I think my plan for this year will work just fine.

I decided to stick with the red, aqua, kraft and brown theme. Below are the pages that I have done so far using the prompts from Shimelle.
(you can click on the image for a closer view)

Cover

Day 1-My manifesto

Day 2-Holiday weather 

 

 

album so far

and the countdown begins

Just mere minutes ago it officially turned December 1.

Time to begin the advent.

When I was unpacking the Christmas paraphernalia over the weekend I came across the advent calendar that I made last year. I was going to make a new one for this season, but when I gently lifted it out of the box that has kept it safe for the past year, I was reminded of how much I really do love this particular one (and it's a good thing, because unless Santa was going to bring me an early little gift of some extra time, it wasn't going to happen!).

It is nothing more than some patterned paper, chipboard accents, pearl pins and a little ribbon, but behind each number that counts down is a little bit of holiday spirit.

With all of the chaos going on over here with work and schoolwork and holiday preparations (we haven't even been eating dinner until almost 11:00 every night!), this advent will serve as an important reminder to pause and take in the season. When I created this calendar last year I never would have imagined just how essential it would be this year.

Life is funny like that.

There is no candy, no ornaments, no tiny presents. Only holiday reminders, tasks and reflections.

And that is just perfect for us right now.

(just need to change the year!)  

 

 

How do you countdown to your winter holiday?

decorating dilemma

Let the Christmas (and whichever holiday you might celebrate!) begin!! That has been my attitude since I put the last bite of pecan pie into my mouth during Thanksgiving dinner. But alas, I have run into a dilemma and am humbly looking for input (please).

I have been so inspired by all of the great color combos I am seeing out there lately, especially the tiffany blue/aqua and red, like this...

 

 {image}

 ...but I am having a harder time than I thought about breaking away from the traditional red and green theme. Perhaps it is because last Christmas we used red and green and it was the first one that mmb and I lived together so it holds a lot of sentimental value for me. Not sure.

What do you all do for decorating? Do you stick with traditional colors, vary them or do something entirely unique?

sleep cycle woes

First off, I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving if you celebrated yesterday. If not, hopefully you had a great day anyhow. Thanksgiving dinner with each of our families was great. Lots of laughs, great food and time spent with some of the most wonderful people in the world.

There's nothing like the holidays.

So, you might be asking yourself why I am posting at just about 2:00 am. The reason has to do with last night. You see there's this little thing called Black Friday- you may have heard about it. Crazy sales at unGodly hours and the such. Well, after thanksgiving dinner it has become tradition that my boyfriend (God bless his soul...), his sisters and I head to the outlet stores that open at midnight and get some AMAZING deals during the black friday event. It really is quite an experience. There are tons and tons of people and really, the deals can't be beat...sweaters at j.crew at 40% off, everything in Banana Republic at 50%, between 50-60% off at Ann Taylor. I think you get the point.

This year it ended up being mmb, myself and his little sister, e. Luckily for the three of us we all have a good sense of humor and can keep ourselves entertained because as it turns out, we weren't the only ones with the brilliant idea to hit the shops. In fact, enough people decided to go that it provided us with a lovely 3 1/2 hours of traffic to sit in! We each took turns having mini-hissy fits(hehe) but kept in good spirits and made the most of it. It was actually quite fun! Once we arrived at about 2:30 am we shopped til the sun came up then headed back to the car in the pouring rain and headed to the Cape to spend the night there. We all slept until about 3:30 this afternoon (thus the disruption is sleep cycle) and then we three shop-til-you-droppers(literally) topped off our evening with a delicious dinner at a fabulous restaurant in Chatham with mmb's parents and other sister.

It has been a really fantastic Thanksgiving. I am going to cherish every second of this holiday season. I have so much to be grateful for.

hih prompt board

Sadly, with all of my studying I have not had a chance to get really crafty with my Holidays in Hand prompt book for {Jessica Sprague's} class.

Because of the aforementioned studying it is also pretty important that I stay organized for this Christmas in order to get everything on my plate accomplished, which is why I decided to turn my bulletin board into an organization board of sorts.

(please excuse the horrible lighting in these pics...can anyone recommend a lightbulb that doesn't give everything that oh-so-delightful jaundice glow when you take a pic inside at night??)

Welcome to Christmas Corner.  

While chatting with mmb we realized that this is going to be our FIFTH christmas together! Where does the time go?? I was feeling a bit nostalgic and pinned up pics from our last four together.

folders to hold recipe and gift ideas (yes, they have christmas quotes on them...)

Well that is all for now. I am hoping to get to start my cards tomorrow, but for now, it is time to get ready for date night!

serendipity

Let the card making begin! The rest of my supplies from Two Peas and Stampin' Up! came today and I am ready to go :-) Here are some of the papers that I got to go with the vintage cream cardstock and kraft paper envelopes I will be using this year. Combined with the adorable tree stamp and my Papertrey Ink supplies, I think this year's card just might be my favorite one yet.

So besides just being thrilled about the arrival of my order, there was a special little perk that I was not expecting. When I ordered the papers I couldn't see what the print was on the text papers, but thought it would be really nice to use anyhow.

Today I open it up and look at it and guess what...the text is from Pride and Prejudice!! I know...I couldn't believe it either! Check it out for yourself...

See? It's right there: Mr. Darcy, Elizabeth, Mr. Bingley....

;-)

I would have been thrilled to get this under any circumstances, but below explains just why this is so such a treat to me right now...

Actual conversation heard in the m+m household last night:

me: "Hey hon, check out this page I am working on"

him:"Nice one. I am shocked that you used a page ripped out of a book and it's not from Pride and Prejudice"

me: "I thought of that, but this is the page that came with the embellishment pack

...and besides, I would feel like I was defacing the bible or something [insert giggle]"

(ponders just how much a page made from p&p would be amazing)

 him:"Well it looks great"

me:"Well thank you. Maybe I will try to find a copy that is already missing some pages and use that."

And now today this comes! Can you believe it? I can.

Life is serendipitous.

a good mail day

The holidays are coming!

Let the good mail season begin...

I got home from work today (after discovering during my commute that THREE stations are already playing Christmas music!) to find some of our favorite catalogs patiently waiting in the mail slot.

and as if that wasn't good enough this sweet little bundle was waiting on the front steps...

What is it, you ask? Well, let me tell you... it's the order I placed from {Papertrey Ink}! Once I get my Stampin' Up and Two Peas orders I will be set and ready to go to make our holiday cards with my girlies :-) It's a lovely little tradition we began 3 years ago. This year to simplify things I am only making one style....wish me luck!

holidays in hand

It's coming....

I know, right?! Where did this year go?? Weren't we just cleaning up wrapping paper and drying the dishes from big family dinners? It's hard to believe, but before I know it trips to the tree farm, nights of stringing lights while watching Christmas Vacation (now, a tradition), gathering with the girls to make cards and time spent with wonderful people will be upon us.

Shoot, the music is already playing on the radio! I even listened to about 1 minute of one, despite my strict "No Christmas Music Until Thanksgiving Dinner" rule...but shhh, don't tell mmb (if you are reading this hon, disregard that last sentence...)

If nothing else, the all too rapid passage of time in 2009 has taught me to appreciate every minute. And because of that, I especially want to cherish every moment of the coming holiday season. So when I stumbled upon {Jessica Sprague's Holidays in Hand class}, I decided that it is the perfect opportunity to get myself prepared for this season so I would be able to enjoy it more than rush around and stress. I haven't taken any of Jessica's classes, but I have heard nothing by rave reviews.

I am excited!

Our first assignment is to write down our values and goals for this holiday season.

In no particular order, here are mine:

1. Don't overdo it. Small, meaningful gifts mean the most.

2. Be conscious and grateful of the reason for celebration.

3. Take time to relax and enjoy (and craft!)

4. Appreciate my blessings and share that good fortune.

5. Perfection isn't necessary (ouch..that almost hurt to write!)

6. Love, laugh and cherish the magic of the season.

(layout from last Christmas...our first one living together!)

Whichever holiday you celebrate, I hope you will take some time to live it with intention and savor every second. What a magical time it is! 

pumpkins, pumpkins, everywhere...

I am so lucky to work with a group of people that I not only really like, but that are super creative too (see evidence below). This year our principal broke us up into six teams for a pumpkin decorating contest and it was so...much....fun! Of course there were shenanigans (think missing pumpkins and ransom notes), but that just added to the fun of it :-) On Friday morning we all revealed our pumpkins and any parent that came in before 2:00 could vote. We're already looking forward to the next challenge!

Happy Halloween!