snow on the hydrangeas

there is so much beauty in winter, i think. i love the calm, the coziness, the stark beauty. i love the fierceness of a howling blizzard, given that everyone is safe. even a softly falling cascade of glittering snowflakes is truly magical to me. i thought i'd share a couple of photos taken at my parents' home a few weeks ago, before we had much snow. i love the snow on the hydrangeas...

i know i'm not one of the majority, in loving winter. and that's okay.

because i have at least one other little friend who agrees with me!

on a different note, i've been having a wonderful and productive time the last few weeks, working on Project Life. i do believe i have found the long awaited solution to my memory keeping challenges - too many photos, not enough time, and mainly - my struggles with structure and consistency. i'm thrilled at what i have come up with so far! and i will be back with photos of my pages in the next couple of days...this is an incredible concept and i'd love to inspire even one other person to consider giving it a try! see you soon:)

oh - and one more thing. if you do follow that link - don't be overwhelmed with the physical materials you see. none of them are an absolute necessity, in my humble opinion - except for the photo pocket pages. and there are many people who are doing this without those...it's all so flexible. i'm eager to share more soon!

holiday card photo shoot

there was a sunday in early december when the light was just perfect for photos...we packed up the boys and their dogs and headed out! it was quite chaotic, as you'd expect. a rather impatient and unskilled mom trying to shoot photos of her own children? and their dogs? what in the world was i thinking! but you know, 158 shots later, it turned out to be worth it. even the part where my well meaning husband was clacking rocks together to get the dogs to look, and i ended up with hearing loss in my left ear...

so we got the photos and then i turned the process of choosing the right ones into a 2 week project. not counting the editing i did after that. nor the time i spent choosing the right card template. yes, it's true. only i can turn a relatively painful process into a prolonged painful process. (and then not send the cards out until today.) yes - you heard me correctly. 

now for the good news. i happened into a great deal on 20x24 canvases one night, while doing some online xmas shopping. and here they are - i am absolutely thrilled with the quality of these!!! it makes all the pain and suffering and wasted time worth it, don't you agree? we can enjoy these everyday and it makes me smile every time i look at that wall:)

so here's the card...hard to see the white background, but it's a 7x5 card....

                                

and here is the back side. you can certainly see why i tend to go with all inclusive greetings such as "happy everything", right??? because history seems to prove that our holiday cards could be mailed out anywhere in a 3 month time span, and it would be a shame to receive a card that says "let it snow" as the trees start to bloom in early spring...

i never shared the finished card with you from last year - so here it is - i loved it! and we just opened the door and went out on the back deck for less than 5 minutes...so easy:)

and the back...

here are a few photos of the winter decorating i did this year...simple, soft, and sparkly...

wishing everyone a cozy saturday evening. and thank you for stopping by!