A whole month went by...so this post is EPIC

A whole month went by and not one post made it to the blog. The weeks between Thanksgiving and New Year...a flurry of activity. I have a whole 4x6 album dedicated to the first 25 days in December so I won't recap EVERYTHING that happened. Just some highlights...

ONE Christmas program instead of 3 different ones since 4 of the 5 little boys I call my nephews go to the same school. The littlest one...his program was during the work day AND on my birthday and I wasn't having any of that "sit-in-a-crowded-hot-room-even-though-the-air-conditioner-is-on" kind of day. 

Our work Christmas party happened on December 14. I treated myself to a night at the Westin so I wouldn't have to drive home at the end of the party. Closed down that event with a few of my favorite people.

I didn't put up the tree until December 16. In years past, the tree went up on December 8. Didn't happen. But, when the tree did finally go up, I sprained the parts of my body connected to my left rotator cuff. The day after I had a really good massage at the spa. Yeah. Still a little sore today.

I completed a whole year of Project Life on my birthday.

We celebrated Christmas in Pago Bay and New Year here at home. Today is the Feast of the Epiphany so the tree came down. 

Besides being busy this holiday season, I managed to see some really, really good friends and spend some time with them. Then someone discovered "What's App" could do group chats...pain in the neck getting all those notifications, but it makes me feel like I really am still a part of the group...not that I ever stopped, but reading and participating in the chat makes me feel like I'm not really missing out. Does that make sense?!?!?

I got to see "Les Miserables" in the theater with one of those good friends. All I did was write that I wanted to see it and someone said they wanted to as well. The joys of being electronically connected. 

One of the things I pondered on for the last month of 2012 was my "one little word" for 2013. I stumbled upon the word "OPEN" and that became my word for 2013. Open means so many things for me this year. Thirteen is supposed to be a lucky number so I'm hoping, praying, crossing my fingers that my word leads me to that luck.

Here's my annual "one little word" layout...

Supplies: Studio Calico "34th Street" kit and "Murray Hill" add on kit, and Mister Huey's Shine; Bic mark it black marker; Zig Millenium .01 pen. 

I also decided to do Project Life for another year, but this time using the Studio Calico Handbook. I like the smaller format...keeps me from feeling like I lead a boring life since it's easy to fill up a two-page spread in the smaller album. 

I spray painted the cover with chalkboard paint. I wasn't sure what else I wanted to do so I left it as is.
 

 I made some cards in Photoshop CS5 (hello 2013 and open)and used printables from the Studio Calico "Day by Day" class for the top right pocket. For the bottom right pocket, I filled a small glassine bag with confetti and sewed the top and bottom to keep the confetti in the middle. The stamp says, "do what you love" from a past SC kit.

 Red thickers came from the SC December Daily kit and the washi tape from the 34th Street card kit. 

 Here's another digital card using the Studio Calico digital products. The stars and "2013" came from the Cyber Monday set. I can't remember which SC digi kit the blocks and dots came from. I used buffet script for "January."

Week 1 left side: SC calendar pocket with a manila tag. Used a scrap of vellum from Kelly Purkey's December kit. Quote card came from Elise Cripe. "Week 1" card stamps from an old SC project life stamp set and the Jenni Bowlin "1" came from the 34th Street kit. Made the random card with SC digi stamps and the project life stamp set and some washi.