When I grew up, our Christmas tree was decorated with tinsel and gigantic colored outdoor sized lights. I LOVED STRINGING THE TINSEL ON one strand at a time! We had some plain colored balls, ornaments my sister and I made in the innumerable craft classes we were enrolled in and a few special ornaments my mother had managed to collect on her meager budget. My sister and I also made paper chains, strung popcorn and cranberries and when we finished decorating the tree we thought it was simply magnificent. Oh yeah! And the tree was one of the really cheap, really thin "Charlie Brown" variety trees which were the only ones that we could afford.
Did I grow up feeling deprived of Christmas joy?! Absolutely not. Why didn’t I? I think it was because I got to participate in the holiday, make crafts and help out. My mother wasn’t worried about our tree being drop-dead-gorgeous or looking like a magazine spread (which there weren’t many of anyway). She just wanted us children to have a really special holiday.
Since my girls are grown, when I ask what their special memories of Christmas are, it’s quite interesting to note which ones made a deep impression. One year we did a 10 foot tall Victorian pink and blue tree (mid-80’s 🙂 ) They loved that tree and we still have some of the paper ornaments from it that they enjoy. Another year, the year that their Dad was dying from cancer, we went to Hawaii for two weeks and decided to make a Hawaiian Christmas tree by decorating sea shells and making our own ornaments. Those ornaments have become a treasure for the both of them. Another year I invited all of the neighborhood kids to come to an ornament making day at out house (their parents contributed $5 and I shopped wholesale so they made some spectacular ornaments!) we did a natural Christmas theme with pine cones and tartan plaid ribbons and still use those ornaments that have survived on our tree today (if we’re going with a red and green theme). Do you see the theme here on which Christmas’ were memorable to them? The ones they created something themselves, can look at the ornaments or decorations today and recall the memories. There’s something about connecting with tangible objects that helps us to store lifelong memories.
Too many of us crafty or artistic types want our homes and Christmas trees to be spectacular and don’t leave room for our children to have fun and participate in the holiday. When they hang their ornaments "in the wrong place" we move them. The colors they pick out "don’t go together" or clash with this year’s tree theme. We make everything perfect and leave them feeling like they don’t quite measure up. We don’t do it intentionally, but it’s very easy to do and the wound hurts whether it was meant to be a wound or not.
The last two years, I have turned over the Christmas tree decorating to my two girls who are still at home. They have had so much fun doing it and I’ve had an amazingly fun time watching them! They’ve done the tree very differently from what I would do, but it’s been fabulous nonetheless. This year I’m even thinking about giving in on one of my biggest pet peeves…. colored lights! I do not like colored Christmas lights, I like simple, elegant white lights. Sooooooo, of course my children crave colored lights. It will take everything within me to give in on this one, but I think I finally will, that is with one caveat… no blinking colored lights. I can’t stand flashing strands of tree lights either (I can handle individually twinkling lights).
You see, we all have our individual tastes and ways of expressing our love of the holidays. But it’s so important to remember that we need to nurture our children so that they can deveop their own creativity, rather than make our home a showplace for outsiders.
Have you thought about how you can involve your children (or grandchldren, or neighborhood children if you don’t have any of your own) in the holiday decorating, starting with Thanksgiving? Can you think of some simple projects to do with them? How about showcasing their school projects on a front entry way table if you have one? What about having them make a wreath for your front door out of construction paper, scrapbook papers or ? You might look in one of the many craft magazines and see if there’s some project that would be suitable for their ages and your patience level. Then while you’re doing the project, tell them some stories about why you celebrate the holidays in a particular way, or share some special memories of the holidays you had in your youth. These are the memoies that are stored away deep in their souls and nourish them their whole life through!
THE PROVERB OF THE DAY: Prov 6:20-22 0 My son, keep your father’s commands and do not forsake your mother’s teaching. Bind them upon your heart forever; fasten them around your neck. When you walk, they will guide you; when you sleep, they will watch over you; when you awake, they will speak to you. NIV
Heart.") That image is below. The background and snowbank are included in the Build Your Own Snowman Kit.
The best part of this kit is NO COLD HANDS!!!! 
I have been working on some Christmas food-oriented gift sets and just now have them ready to give you a peek at them. These boxes are really, really unique and fun. They are a self-closing bow top with a curved very unusual rounded top of the box. I can’t really describe it in words so I’ll show you with a picture!
I have a couple more similar sets that will follow including a Gingerbread Cottage Christmas set, so stay tuned!The final picture is a close up of two of the large box sides so you can see a little more of the art in these products. If any of you do food gifts or food crafts, would you please leave me a comment with any special requests, things that you do a lot of etc.? It would be very helpful for me 🙂
Please be praying for the California Wildfires. I lived through the Cedar fire in 2003 which came 1200 ft from our home in Valley Center. The fires that are happening right now in San Diego are much, much worse (4,000 homes were destroyed in So. Cal in the 2003 fires). There are 8-10 separate fires being driven by 70 mph winds and over 250,000 people have been ordered to evacuate their homes. More than 100,000 acres have burned already and the winds aren’t scheduled to subside until 3 PM tomorrow.
I am in exactly your same position as a wife and mother. As an artist, I have a leg up on you in that I can go to my computer and access close to 1,000 gigabytes of artwork to scrap with, but do I? Not as often as I would like. I’ve done more this year than last year and I hope that I will do more yet in 2008. I’m MAKING TIME (because FINDING time hasn’t seemed to work very well) a little here and a little there. I’m choosing to take a day that I might go spend in the garden endlessly weeding a patch that will only be filled again with more weeds, to do something instead that will be permanent and even possibly last beyond my lifetime. 
The second issue that I always hear about scrapbooking is that "I get overwhelmed even thinking about it!" Do you go into a scrapbooking store and have your eyes glaze in about 30 seconds? Do you look at all the choices and freeze? Do you look at a scrapbooking magazine and see fantastic layouts executed by graphic designer geniuses that you know in your heart you could never duplicate and just decide never to start? 
The kit will be coming to the store next week and will be priced at only $6.98 for 66 pieces. There is a PNG format photo template that you simply drop your photos behind and then cut out in the perfect shape and size to coordinate with the colored and patterns mats that are included. Also included are 3, 8.5 x 11" papers to print the back side of your pages or use for papers in other projects.
I’ve intentionally chosen to create this kit as a "hybrid" kit. If you do not know what that term means, it is a digital kit that you print, cut and then mix together with your trims, ribbons, jewels and other goodies to create a physical layout through normal scrapbooking processes. Many of you aren’t quite skilled enough yet to do a digital layout, yet you own great graphics and have a desire to scrapbook your memories inexpensively and easily. Imagine never running out of a favorite paper! Imagine being able to write your journaling, edit it and print it in a wonderful font to clearly and easily communicate your thoughts and emotions. Hybrid scrapbooking is the very best of both worlds! If you have a good scanner, you might even consider creating a hybrid layout and then scanning it to use in a digital album!
This first of three kits has a Thanksgiving card that can also be used as an invitation to a party or family get together and a Thank You note that also comes blank to create your own personal message. I love to send "Thank You" notes around the holiday to the people who share my life telling them what I’m thankful for about them. If you’ve never done it, you’d be amazed at what a little bit of time invested in thanking others can mean in their lives.
here is also a 3D magnet and a 3D tent style place card for dinners or special events. Also, I’ve created two options for decorating candles and a circular mat to put under them. Each of the three craft kits will work together to create a great environment that reminds us of our blessings and all that we have to be thankful for during this coming season of Harvest and Thanksgiving.
A very lovely Christmas card created by "Shazbar." As a prize, she will win her choice of my Victorian Christmas Gift Bag set or my Peony Cottage Giftbag set! 
Next Sunday I leave for Las Vegas, NV to attend the "Memory Trends" show. This show is specifically for Scrapbooking and related crafts. I’m getting excited to see what’s new in the industry, make some new contacts and probably purchase a new wide-format laser printer if I find a good deal.
I decorated my boxes yesterday to bring to the show, it was fun to get to take a break from designing for others and play around with organizing my own supplies to go with my newly partially organized studio space! Fun, fun, fun!
. I want to show you off to all of my friends!
This Peony Cottage Quilt Gift Bag and Tag set contains several gift tags, a mini-gift card with matching envelope and a three dimensional quilted flower to decorate the bag or to use on a table, string together to make a garland to decorate for a shower or birthday party!