The Third Date of Christmas

We went to the Houston Museum of Natural Science's Body Worlds brain exhibit for our third date. We'd seen another Body Worlds exhibit before, and this one was very similar. I had hoped it would be more about just the brain. Still pretty cool.



This is my simplest layout yet. I got the template from Oscraps (Simple Template No. IV) and duplicated the red flower. I then changed the layer type to Luminosity to make it green. Background paper is from SP "Seasonal Sampler" Holiday Paper Green. Fonts: Parchment and Popsies. Voila!

Pay It Forward

Well, I've managed to come down with a cold (this happens during every break I have from school), so the 12 dates are postponed until I start feeling better.

In the meantime I thought I'd share two layouts I made for a Pay It Forward I participated in.

This first one was for one of my blog friends. I put it in a black frame and mailed it out (on time) back in October.


Credits:
Fonts-Unnamed Melody & Trajan Pro

The second one didn't make it into its owner's hands until last week. Thankfully it was for one of my best friends, so she didn't complain that it was two months late.



When I handed her the gift she thought it was an empty picture frame. Imagine her delight when she actually opened it and saw this!



Here's a close up.

The Second Date of Christmas

For our second date we went to a session at the Houston Temple, and afterwards we did some Christmas shopping at the church bookstore across the street.

There is a certain beauty to each temple, but I especially love the Houston Temple because it is the one we were married in and because it looks like a fairytale castle. =) I also love how in love I feel when I cuddle and whisper with my husband in the Celestial Room. It's truly the closest place to heaven on earth. How could I get a better date than that?

Credits:
Bg paper-SP Seasonal Sampler Holiday Paper "Ornate"
Frame with paper clip-Fei Fei's Stuff "Save It"
Ribbon-R. Penner's "Express Yourself" kit from SP
Font-Little Lord Fontleroy NF

Merry and Bright

Love, Allison & Henry

Twelve Dates of Christmas

Instead of exchanging traditional gifts with Henry this year, I decided that it would be more fun and productive (you know, quality time together, strengthening our relationship, yada, yada)for us to go on a dating spree. Digital scrapbooking wasn't the only thing that suffered during this past semester of school; date night fell by the wayside too. So, this Christmas season we're attempting to go on twelve dates.

Why twelve? Contrary to what this blog may be leading you to believe, 12 is not my favorite number. It's twelve dates to go along with the twelve days of Christmas, which, according to Wikipedia, are "the festive days beginning the evening of Christmas Day through the morning of Epiphany." (I really don't know anything about the day of Epiphany. Does anyone celebrate that? Basically, I just got the 12 date idea from Oprah and I think it'll be fun.)

We've gone on three dates so far, and I'm going to try to scrapbook each one.

Here is the first date of Christmas:



My parents live about twenty minutes from the Johnson Space Center, but it'd been years since I'd been. We had fun on the tram tour though I have to say it was a wee bit chilly outside. Our favorite part was playing around with the indoor exhibits.

Credits:
Template-Little Dreamer Designs "Love"
Ornament png-Fei Fei's Stuff
Christmas trees-SP Seasonal Sampler
Dark green bg-Designer Digitals color challenge 12-7-08
Light green bg-2 ps Martha Stewart kit
Red polka dot paper-Designer Digitals Everyday Inspiration 11-23
Red and Brown dots-SP "Sunporch"

October 12th

My parents came to visit for the weekend, and we made a special dinner to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary!

Credits:
-template: Little Dreamer Designs "My Boy"
-bg paper: Shabby Princess "Promise" Paper Leaf
-other papers: SP "Vintage Floral" Paper Dots, SP Kristie SF Orange Paper, Designer Digitals dz ad challenge 5-4 Paper 3
-"Sunday": Little Dreamer Designs, Michelle Coleman Hand Stamped alpha
-other text: Rosewood Std

Back in the Saddle Again

Hi. I know it's been a while. A little thing called grad school, which turns out, is not for the faint of heart, came between me and digital scrapbooking. But now I'm out of school for a whole month and there are new layouts on the horizon.

Today I did a page for Thanksgiving. It was my first time ever to use a layered template. Not as self-explanatory as I thought it'd be, but after a quick tutorial I was in business. It was definitely faster than creating a layout from scratch, but it also doesn't feel as personalized.



This was a Thanksgiving of firsts: my first Thanksgiving away from my parents, first with my in-laws, and first to host in my home. For the first time ever I was in charge of planning and cooking the meal though Henry helped a lot. It was really a team effort. We made turkey (we stuck to just cooking a breast. maybe next year we'll go for a whole bird), sweet potatoes, a pineapple cheese log, corn on the cob, cheesy potatoes, rolls, and a pumpkin pie. Our family brought over brisket, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, more rolls and bread, and about six pies! Everything was delish, and I think everyone had a good time too. We played Cranium, Clue, and Worst Case Survival game before heading over to Lara and William's to watch a movie. It was a nice day.

Materials:
Template: Designer Digitals Ad Challenge 2-10-08
Ribbon: Shabby Princess "Festival Ric Rac Coral"
Font: Vaguely Repulsive