Holiday Workshop

I know many of you are groaning because all the Christmas stuff is all over the stores and it feels so early. I on the other hand am giddy with excitement! LOL! Christmas is my fave holiday - celebrating the birth of Christ is something I look forward to every year. There is just something about it - it's magical. And it is one of the best times to let your creativity shine with the season. I have vowed to make many of my gifts this year and I am off to a pretty good start. Many have asked me over the years, "When are you gonna teach a class?" I have listened and after much contemplation, will be offering a holiday workshop! Class will be held here in New Market on November 14th. After the new year, I hope to offer some online classes for you all. Below you can take a peek at my creations that we will put together at the workshop. I had a ton of fun creating this little cottage - the lid is removable and you can load it up with candy, pictures, recipes, whatever will fit. I used some of the new Eskimo Kisses line from Basic Grey and one of my favorite Jenni Bowlin papers. Sno-Tex and glitter give the roof a wintry feel. Cute, huh?

This is a banner that was quite simple to make. I love the word "JOY" and can't wait to hang this up for Christmas time. I love using sheet music in my projects and I raided my mom's piano bench for some old music books!

My Christmas projects would not be complete without a vintage Santa image somewhere. This is a close-up of a little ornament that I am going to tuck inside my cottage for some lucky recipient to receive. I got the idea for the muslin rose from the Maya Road newletter. So easy and fun to make; you gotta try these!

I hope to see some of you who are local on the 14th - we will have a blast making these little treaures! If you are intested in getting crafty with me, shoot me an email to sign up or click the workshop link on my sidebar. That's all for now; be sure to check back on Saturday as I will be offering a RAK in honor of my birthday on November 1st!

XOXO Nik

Is it Fall or Winter????

According to the calendar, it's fall. But in Minnesota, that means snow anytime from October on. We have had a couple days of rain turning to snow then rain again. Wonder what today will bring? Looks like more rain or snow - we'll see. Both Cole and Desi are sick with the flu. I think Desi is past the worst, but still not feeling like herself. Cole has a temp of 103 and is coughing. If you think of us - send a few prayers our way for health. This flu is nasty! I am hoping all is well so both kids can adorn their costumes on Saturday. Desi did have a Halloween party a couple weeks ago and I was able to snap this cute little pic:
And here's one of the infamous frost on the pumpkin. Or in this case, snow on the pumpkin. For sure this will make a lovely scrapbook page, but it was hard to take since this was on October 12th!

On to scrappy news - I recently entered the DT contest at Scrappin Mojo and I was chosen to be their designer for the next 6 months! I am thrilled as this is the first forum that I ever visited and become a member of. I love these girls like family - they are wonderful and I hope you all come by and play with us. The DT challenge was to create a Christmas layout and I jumped at the chance to scrap this precious picture of my kids last year.

I used a lot of elements in this layout; distressing, inking, border punches, rubons, handmade paper flowers and glittering. I love how these letters turned out using some of Martha Stewart's tinsel glitter.

Here's a close-up of a paper flower I made by adhering several of the same shape flowers in varying sizes together. I used Glimmer Mist and more glitter to add dimension and shimmer.

All in all, I love this layout and will for sure hang it on my wall during the holidays. Thank you Jan and Terri of Mojo for asking me to be on your DT!! My other news is scrappy related too. Remember back in September when I guest designed for the kit club Back Porch Memories? The other day I received an email from Paula, the owner of the site and store in Fairbanks, Alaska, and she asked me if I would like to be one of their full time designers! What exciting news to be offered two DT positions in one day! I can't wait to start on both of these adventures. Make sure to come by each of these forums to visit me, chat and be challenged.

That's all for today. I'm doing good - 2 blog posts in a weekend! LOL! Stay tuned this week as I will be offering up a RAK in honor of my milestone birthday that is a week away. And I will have some other things to share with you all too; a holiday papercrafting class that I am offering, a couple glitter techniques, and maybe even a recipe. Enjoy your Sunday evening - XOXO, Nik

It's been a while - LOL!

One of these days I will get better at updating my blog on a weekly basis. Not sure why I get so distracted and don't get it done! Thankfully so many of you are better at it than I am because I get to hop all over blog land and ooooohhhhh and aaaaahhhhh over all of your FAB-U-LOUS creations! Fall is such an awesome season for crafting, don't ya think? It just gets you motivated to create with all the beautiful colors and the crisp cool air that brings about the hint that winter is on it's way. I was busy in September with a wonderful kit from Back Porch Memories. I had a blast being on their guest DT for September. This kit was packed with goodies from Pink Paislee, My Mind's Eye and SEI. Lot's of yummy colors to mix and match! Below are a couple of my layouts from the kit. I love the first one with my girls and the second one is my little guy Colson. As October rolled around, I was asked fill a guest DT spot at Scrappin' Mojo, my home base scrappy forum. The paper I was blessed to work with were from Paper Trunk - loved this paper!
They sent so much, that I still have sheets left over. The "Wrangler" line was perfect for some projects for Cole. I made this simple little name banner to hang in his room and a couple layouts:

This is my fave layout using the Paper Trunk papers from the "Socialite" line. The picture was taken just 5 days before Ellie died; she did everything with grace and always had a smile on her face. Love how her and Desi are holding each other in this photo.

Another fave - Ellie and baby Colson. I wrote a note to Cole on this one:

Each day for me continues to bring it's own set of grief struggles and at times it can be very hard to move forward because I am constantly thinking about Ellie. I have never wanted to get to Heaven so badly - it is difficult to think that it could be 40 years or more before I get to hold her in my arms again. She keeps me motivated with my creativity, however. She was my crafty partner and when I am working a project, I can almost feel her next to me asking how she can help. Recently Desi and I organized my Clip-It-Up. I could not help but shed some tears because Ellie helped me put it together and get all the little clips on there. We spent about an hour and a half arranging it a couple years back. It's those little memories that get the best of me and cause a mini breakdown. God, do I miss my little girl.

Thanks for looking my sweet blog friends and I will be back tomorrow with some exciting news to share! Until then - be blessed!

XOXO ~ Nik