Some Christmas photos...

Lazy week...

I've always loved the week between Christmas and New Year's. It's always been a vacation week for me (just one reason to love jobs in education!). Max has been working a lot, but it's been a very relaxing time for the boys and me. Later, I'll upload some recent pics and some projects I've been working on. I have several more projects currently in progress on my scrap table - hopefully I can get those finished and posted this weekend. Right now, it's dreary here, the baby's got a fever, and I'm ready to take a nap! I'll be back though! Have a great Friday! :)

Happy Birthday Jesus

I think it's much too easy to forget the real reason we celebrate Christmas. We hear the cliche, but has it really sunk into your heart that Jesus is the reason? It's much too easy to get caught up in the decorating and shopping and cooking and eating and forget why we're doing it all. Two thousand years ago, the God of all creation came to earth as a baby. If you've ever held a newborn in your arms, you know just how precious and fragile they are. Yet God came down to us as a baby. He came down knowing that one day he'd die on a cross, not for His own sins, but for my sins and yours. Has the truth of this season really impacted your heart? I received a letter in the mail today that really disturbed my spirit and felt that I needed to write a reminder of why we celebrate Christmas. We give gifts not because we expect anything from the recipient, but to celebrate our love and thankfulness for our family and other loved ones. We give because God gave the greatest gift of all to us. He gave us His one and only Son, to be our Savior. I leave you with this, taken from the NIV version of the Bible...

1In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2(This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3And everyone went to his own town to register.

4So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

8And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ[a] the Lord. 12This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

13Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14"Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

15When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."

16So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

I've been busy lately...

I'm working on a bunch of Christmas presents, so I can't post those yet. But here's my little tree that was on Fiskars TV and a couple layouts of Andrew. The second layout is for a contest at my local scrapbook store. The other one is using TaDa products...so fun!

I'm on tv...

Fiskars TV, that is. When I was in San Antonio last month, they filmed a bunch of us Fiskateers showing off some projects. My little Heidi Grace tree is now on the web! I'm about 4 minutes into the video (it was late...forgive the way I look!). So fun!

Fiskars TV

Usborne sale this weekend...

Usborne Holiday Sale and Free Gift


Usborne Holiday Sale and Free Gift
The best books, games and activities for your kids – at unbeatable prices!
This weekend only Usborne is offering 20%-50% off a fabulous selection of best sellers & Holiday Gift Ideas your whole family will enjoy.

Sale Starts Friday Dec. 7 and Ends Monday Dec. 10
Give an Usborne Gift this year...and Get One Too! Your Free Gift
Receive a free book ($9.99 value) on all orders over $60!
 



Baby’s First Christmas Set
4 Book Set
40% Off

NOW Only
$29.99
More Christmas Specials...
 


Dinosaur Adventure Excavation Kid Kit - Triceratops (Box)
excavate the dinosaur bones
and assemble the skeleton for display!
20% Off

NOW Only
$11.99
More Gift Ideas for All Ages...



Big Book of Fairy Things to Make and Do
50% Off
NOW Only
$7.49
More Holiday Gifts for Girls...
 

Pirate’s Handbook
30% Off

NOW Only
$9.09
More Holiday Gifts for Boys...




Sale runs Friday (12/7), 1:00 AM CST through Monday (12/10) 9:00 PM CST.

Some Christmas music for you...

For the next 24 hours, if you visit http://www.haveyouheardtheword.com/, you can listen to David Phelps' new Christmas cd "One Wintry Night". Enjoy!

I have been busy lately...

Here are a few of the projects I've been working on lately. I have been altering just about anything I can get my hands on! :)

The first pic is a K & Company make-and-take that Sher from Scrap-Diner sent my way.

Just a little card...I think I'm going to send this one to my Secret Santa. I used the Making Memories double-sided stickers and glitter for the star (hard to see in the pic) and the word "Merry".

My happy Heidi Grace Christmas tree. This one makes me so happy! The tree is from say it with letters; I really love their pieces!

And these two are pics of a box I altered for Max. The wood box is from an Australian company that my local scrapbook store sells. I used Rusty Pickle Mayflower papers and embellishments to decorate. I like the way it turned out, but more importantly, Max likes it!

I'm working on some cute little ornaments right now. Hopefully I'll have them finished tomorrow or Monday so I can post then. Happy weekend!

My acorn is famous...

Well, sort of. ;)

My new friend, Deb, has posted my little acorn at her blog say it with letters!. She makes the cutest wood shapes to alter. I just ordered and received a bunch of letters to make Christmas presents. They are really well-made and the customer service is fabulous!

Happy Friday!

Thanksgiving recap...

The good news is...nobody ended up in the ER this year!!! We had a great time visiting with family at Aunt Emily and Uncle Jim's home. Aunt Emily does such a wonderful job making all the Thanksgiving food for the family...and this year the house was packed!



Here's an overview...I couldn't get a shot with everyone in it at once there were so many people!

The Hopkins' Family table:

On Friday, after doing a little Black Friday shopping, we went back for lunch. I think the food is even better the second time around! Not to mention that I love Aunt Emily's potato pancakes!

This year we stayed at a new hotel...and our room was so nice I could have stayed a week! Max liked the fact that our room overlooked Eat 'n Park! :)

Here's Christian enjoying the big bed, which Max and I shared with Andrew.

The living area...Will tells me to remind everyone of his bed (the pull-out from the sofa). And that's actually a balcony outside the doors.

And one more...isn't he cute?

You know you're a scrapbooker when...

First, a little background...one of my favorite lines of paper of all time is called North Shore from a company called Scenic Route. Here's a pic of part of my stash:

Yesterday, the boys and I went to Target to buy a storage piece for their toys. I ended up getting this awesome system from ClosetMaid...I just love it! All their Thomas the Tank Engine toys fit into the bottom three bins. I've got Legos in another, Matchbox/Hot Wheels in one...it's just fabulous.

Anyhow, you buy the pieces separately. The bins come in a wide variety of colors and styles. Here's our finished product. Look familiar?

That's right - I totally bought bins that matched the paper line...but they turned out so cute!

In other news, we're getting ready for Thanksgiving around here. I'm making a whole tray of chocolate covered pretzels to take to Monroeville tomorrow...yummy!

I've also been doing a ton of scrapbooking lately. I think I may end up doing a flickr show of all the layouts...be on the lookout! ;)

I'm a secret agent...

A scrappy agent, that is. On the Fiskateers blog, I am one of the 3 Fiskateers. Every so often, May (a lead Fiskateer) assigns secret challenges to three Fiskateers. Later, the results of those challenges are posted up on the blog. Well, I am part of the latest group of 3 Fiskateers! It's a big honor for me and I'm really excited!

You can see my work here: http://www.fiskateers.com/blog.

I especially love the round tag...those birds are too cute!

Scrap-Diner Crop starts tonight...

This is going to be amazing!! There are so many fun challenges and chats, not to mention the great prizes!! Just click on the ad below to visit the Diner!

As a sneak-peak, here's the chat schedule:

10:00PM EST November 16, 2007. This is the Rusty Pickle Chat

Noon EST November 17, 2007

8:00PM EST November 17, 2007

7:00PM EST November 18, 2007 Drawings!!!

Yes, you read that right...Rusty Pickle chef Libby MacNeilly and the owner Tasha will be on-hand to chat with us tonight!

So stop by the Diner...I look forward to seeing you there!

A little smack-down...

I'm still behind on posting my projects, but here's a little video you might enjoy. :)

I'm such a slacker...

I have more Texas photos to post, plus I have several projects to share. But that will have to wait one more day. I'm too tired to deal with hooking up the camera and downloading images tonight. But tomorrow is another day!

I'll share more then. :)

P.S. I've got a new video coming...

Some photos from the Alamo...

I'm back from Texas...

I still feel like I'm decompressing from this weekend! Fiskars is absolutely amazing! I am so honored to be associated with this company. They truly care about their consumers, which is rare in this day and age.

We got in early on Friday, so a few of us took a couple hours to walk around downtown San Antonio. I got lots and lots of photos of the Alamo for Max (I'll upload some later) and was able to get some cowboy hats for the boys. But that was just the beginning! On Friday evening, they had a catered pasta dinner for us before the sessions began. They gave us an overview of the whole Fiskateers program and then had us go through a couple creative exercises. We ended up creating a layout, which I'll add in once I've taken a good photo of it. We were up way too late on Friday chatting and scrapping!

On Saturday, our sessions began bright and early! We had three classes before lunch, then after a lunch/sightseeing break, we had two more sessions. After the second session we were greeted by a mariache band (I'm sure I butchered that spelling!). The band serenaded us outside where two boats were waiting to give us a tour of the Riverwalk. The boat ride was fabulous!!! I got some fantastic photos of some S.A. landmarks. The drivers let us off at a restaurant where we had a real Tex-Mex dinner! Yum! After that, it was back to the hotel for one more session.

My last session was with Heidi Grace of Heidi Grace Designs. Let me tell you, she is AMAZING!!!! We laughed, we cried, we hugged. So fabulous. I was a little worried that she wouldn't be as nice in person as I imagained...and I was so wrong! Just so great.

So, all told, we ended up creating (or at least starting) 5 projects on Saturday. The boys got in to one of my projects, which fortunately was the one I wanted to re-do anyhow. Once I get them all finished, I'll post photos.

On Sunday, we had two more sessions and then we were off to the airport. I met some amazing ladies and will cherish the weekend. I am overwhelmed that I was chosen, and am really looking forward to the opportunites that are now open before me.

Speaking of opportunities, I now have the honor of training more people who love Fiskars products as much as I do. If you're interested (training will be held in Chambersburg in Jan/Feb of next year), please shoot me an email or leave a comment on the blog.

It's coming soon...

Happy Halloween!

We took the boys to Kristy's house in downtown Chambersburg for some trick-or-treating fun. Here's a few pics of my boys...Enjoy!

And one more....

I'm going to Texas...

In nine days, I'm flying down to San Antonio for a weekend of scrappping goodness courtesy of Fiskars!! I got my hand-made luggage tag yesterday as well as a final check-list...I can't believe it's happening so soon!

When I got the email last month, it was literally the day of Dad's heart surgery. That had been a BAD week and I initially thought the email was a cruel joke. So I emailed and then called one of the lead Fiskateers (a Fiskars brand ambassador) and found out it was for real. Out of the 2400+ Fiskateers, I was chosen to go to Texas for a weekend training session - all expenses paid! It still seems hard to believe!

Once I'm trained, I'll get to demonstrate Fiskars products at various craft stores and expos. What a fun job! I'll also get to teach others how to become Fiskars demonstrators (if anyone is interested, training will be in Chambersburg in February).

The 50 gals that were chosen to go are doing a tag swap...I'm STILL working on mine. I am just not an assembly-line scrapper, so I have to force myself to work on these. Hopefully I'll get them done this weekend. Otherwise I'll finish them on the plane if I have to!!

If anyone is not yet a Fiskateer (and is a crafty sort of person) check out their site: http://www.fiskateers.com.

In other news, there is some very cool happenings at Scrap-Diner coming next month. I'll be posting the exciting news next week!!

Happy music day...

Yesterday my new David Phelps cds finally came!! The boys and I watched the cd/dvd combo yesterday afternoon...so good! He's got some real honest narration in there as well - I love that!

And the Christmas cd...AMAZING!! I'm listening to it right now. Wow! Seriously, if you're not familiar with David Phelps, check out his website. Just a phenomenal voice...I'm so thankful he has chosen to use his talent to honor our Lord.

Just cause I can...

One more of the boys...

A little test...

Just checking a link.

http://www.davidphelps.com/ram/videos/Just_As_I_Am2.ram

I'm going to test one more thing....let's see if this link works

http://www.davidphelps.com/ram/videos/glory.ram

Happy Monday...

I know, I know...today's Tuesday, BUT we had some happy news yesterday and I didn't get a chance to blog about it yet. First, Will lost ANOTHER tooth!!!! A little bit after they went to bed, Christian came running out telling me that Will was bleeding from his head. When I got to the bathroom, Max was already with Will. After a couple minutes with a washcloth, he was good as new! I took some pictures, but they're on my other memory card, so I'll upload later.

For my happy news, yesterday I got a voicemail from the owner of the local scrapbook store. She started doing monthly page contests. Basically, you buy a page kit, and then have to return it to the store by a given date. She then puts the completed pages on display and customers vote on them. Well, I won the contest for September!!! So my page will be on display in the store for another month!! I'm pretty excited! I won a gift certificate to the store, so Max is happy about that!

Here's a link to my page that won: http://www.scrap-diner.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=673&ppuser=40

So today I'm going to pick up my gift certificate and drop off my page for the October contest.

This is my October layout...this one goes way back - it's a wedding picture!

This page took me forever...I hand-cut the flowers from a piece of patterned paper. And the rub-ons were being less than cooperative. But it's done and I really like it. I tried something new, which was cool. For the word "on" in the title, I did some two-tone rub-on work. I wasn't sure if it would work out (not a good thing when the rest of your layout is about finished) but I'm really pleased with the result. Here's a close-up:

And finally, I'm trying something new with the blog. I'm attempting to add some video...keep your fingers crossed that it works!

Will lost his first tooth!

My baby lost a tooth his first tooth last night! I can't believe it - a week after his 5th birthday! And he's got another one on the way out!

Here's a before shot:

And here's the after:

I think he was the most excited about getting money from the tooth fairy! This morning when he recovered his dollar he was a bit disappointed - he wanted a 10-spot! :)

So now he's wiggling the other bottom tooth...I wouldn't be surprised if that one comes out early next week.

On to other happenings...the whole family has been fighting nasty colds this past week or so. Well, the boys are starting to feel better - they're just sick enough to be cranky. And with the colds plus the huge weather change, they've been cooped up for too many days. So they've started to get creative. Yesterday I walked in to this in my bedroom:

Christian spilled a drink on my bed so I had pulled the sheets off. They boys thought it would be fun to decorate with golf balls.

It's been a long time...

It has been way too long since my last post. Dad has had heart surgery - twice, Will has turned 5, and we're planning a move to Georgia!! Not to mention all my scrapbooking goodness!

I need to get caught up...so I'll start with some happy scrapbooking news. I have been invited to be on my first design team!! I'm so thrilled and excited to be working with the gals at Scrap-Diner! Check out the link at the right of the page - you can see some of my work over there!

Happy Birthday Max...

Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear Max,
Happy Birthday to you.

My honey is 31 today...if you are reading this, leave a comment wishing Max a Happy Birthday!

P.S. Andrew is feeling much better. Prayer definitely works!

AHA January Sale-A-Bration...

I'm so excited! Tomorrow at 1 pm ET, At Home America's HUGE January Sale-A-Bration goes live! I've got my wish list, and I'm planning on placing my order as soon as possible! I just found out the sale is going to include about 200 items up to 80% off! I LOVE a sale!!!

You can check out the sale tomorrow afternoon; there will be a link at www.athome.com/dawnhopkins. Please email me if you're interested in purchasing anything. To place an order, I'll need $150 in sales, so talk to your friends about ordering together. Once you get the $150, email me and I'll place the order. You also get a great bonus - free $$$ to spend in the new catalog (there's a link on the bottom of the above website) PLUS a half-price item! How cool is that?

The sale is first come, first serve, so you'll want to place your orders quick to make sure your favorite items don't sell out! Because of the sale and taking inventory, etc., orders won't be shipped until the 22nd, but I think that's a small price to pay for those deals! :)

There's a couple other specials running right now; just email me and I'll send you a pdf file. In a nutshell, though, here they are:

• if you spend $50 or more, you can buy a Surprise Package (worth $50) for only $9.99
• if you spend $75 or more, you can purchase the Real Deal (a set of two adorable vases featured on the back page of the 2007 catalog) for only $9.99
• if you're the one collecting the orders, you're eligible for some fabulous deals if you collect $300 or more at one time

I think that's all for my commercial right now. I'll post later if I've forgotten anything!

Max's Birthday eve...

Tonight, we went out to dinner with Mom and Dad and Kristy and Cameron for Max's birthday. We went to our new favorite place to take the boys - Fuddruckers. Yummy hamburgers - and hot dog for Will! After dinner, we picked up Max's ice cream cake from Brusters - oreo ice cream "pie". It looks so good, but we're saving it for tomorrow.

Poor Andrew has been a bit sick tonight. He's been spitting up quite a bit. He doesn't have a fever, though, and his spirits are up, so we're hoping and praying that it's just a sour stomach. I hate it when my baby's are sick. :(

Of course, being sick doesn't keep this one out of trouble. I left Andrew on my bed drinking a bottle of sugar water and came back to the little stinker trying to get on the computer! I guess he's taking after Will!

New Year's Eve...

For New Year's Eve, Aunt Wanda aka Aunt Peaches, Uncle Roy aka Uncle Lucky, Jenny, Rob, Tyler and Conner came up. The boys enjoyed playing with their cousins; it's amazing to see 5 boys all within a few years of each other. Mom and Dad outdid themselves with food this year - we had filet mignon and crab cakes for dinner on the 31st. Then for lunch on New Year's Day, we had even more steak and crab cakes, plus some shrimp that Max and I steamed (so proud of ourselves for that one!). Out of 5 pounds of shrimp, only a small ziplock bag-full was left over. This family can definitely put away the seafood!

Christmas morning, part two..

After opening gifts at our house, we headed to Mom & Dad's. Christian got a Radio Flyer tricycle, which he thoroughly enjoyed driving all over the basement. Will was a crazy man, ripping open presents left and right! Christian took a much more leisurely approach to Christmas, opening one at a time and studying each gift! Andrew just sat back and enjoyed the mayhem!

I got a sewing machine from Mom & Dad; Mom tried to teach me how to sew, but I'm pretty pathetic - and I'm just sewing on paper at this point! For now, I'm going to use the machine for my scrapbooking, but I hope to move to actual fabric at some point! :) Max got me some beautiful jewelry - a diamond necklace AND a sapphire and diamond ring! I don't know what I did to deserve all that, but I'm not complaining! :)

Max got a whole bunch of goodies for Christmas - books and dvds and games and clothes and candles and a giftcard for the video game store. I think he was a happy camper too! Now I'm stumped as to what to get him for his birthday! Any ideas, please email me - and soon - the big day is tomorrow!

Christmas morning, part one...

Christmas morning at our house...

Christmas Eve pics...

It seems like forever since I've posted, but these past few weeks have been crazy hectic. We didn't even send out Christmas cards this year. I'm VERY glad 2007 has come - more than I can say.

We took these pictures of the boys on Christmas Eve - had to bribe Will and Christian with presents to pose with their baby brother. None of the photos turned out "perfect", but I love the interactions between the boys that were captured. And notice the finished new floors in the living room. My body has finally stopped aching from installing them, but the finished product was definitely worth it.

In a couple of the pictures, you can see some little trees. We decided against putting up the big tree this year, but we put up a set of three smaller trees - one for each boy. Will and Christian put all the ornaments on, and seemed tickled to have trees that were their size. I felt guilty for not having the big tree up, but they were happy, so I guess all is well. :)