kitbop
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,382 
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Post by kitbop on Nov 2, 2021 0:26:04 GMT
Welcome to the runway to Christmas we informally refer to as November, Divas! This month we number 11: @zingermack, AussieMeg, grammadee, gramma, natscraps, mom, Ryann, sleepingbooty, msupea, DawnMcD. I'm glad to have you along for support this month - it's *full* of crafty and life goals for me, and I'm trying hard to take just one step at a time and remember to be grateful that many of the goals focus on family, friends, work or Christmas. I am thankful to have those things in my life, even when they are "must do" or "must support" moments. Is anyone else ramping up for Christmas? I'd love to be prepared early in the season so I can enjoy more of the twinkle without the chores, so I've got lists and thoughts going. How many Christmas cards do you send in a year? Do you make them? How many have you made? Are you involved in Pea Card exchanges? We will probably take a break in Challenges and Teams in December because of the holiday season. In the New Year, we (meaning grammadee, joyfulnana and I!) were considering some changes to keep things fresh and encourage participation. And that's about as far as our ideas went!!!! If you have any thoughts on how to keep monthly challenges rewarding, meaningful, encouraging, or less intimidating, you can PM me or post here for discussion - who knows who has the next great idea!?! And, if you have questions about this month's challenges or points or anything, you'll certainly get an answer here (but I can't promise it will come from me.) PLEASE POST A FEW CHALLENGES NOW WHILE YOU ARE THINKING ABOUT IT. That thread closes more quickly than you think! |
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Post by Ryann on Nov 2, 2021 19:04:20 GMT
kitbop Looks like November will be a full month in more ways than one!  Thank you for hosting the Divas!! Ramping up for Christmas? Yes! I am so ready for the holidays. Now that Halloween is done, the rest of the year is going to go by so fast! How many Christmas cards do you send in a year? To friends/family I typically send between 25-30. Do you make them? Yes! How many have you made? I think I'm at around 30 completed thus far, with another 20 in progress. Are you involved in Pea Card exchanges? Yes, the unlimited exchange. I typically do easy peasy scoring but I went ahead and posted some challenges anyway. I tried it last year and found it too cumbersome for the amount of layouts I was doing. Maybe I will give it another try as my output is WAY down this year. I went to an outdoor craft fair/seller's market last month and talked myself into being a vendor at the December one for the same location. It's been several years since I've participated in one, so I'm looking forward to it. I saw two greeting card (SU) booths when I was there; so I'm making a point to NOT focus on cards to hopefully stand apart. I have a lot of ideas in my head, now I just need to bring them to life. I've got one month to bring it all together!
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msupea
Full Member
Posts: 419
Aug 21, 2020 13:12:25 GMT
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Post by msupea on Nov 3, 2021 2:36:35 GMT
I posted a couple challenges. Not sure if I did the point stuff right.
Is anyone else ramping up for Christmas? My oldest was ready to decorate yesterday! We will hold off at least through this week.
How many Christmas cards do you send in a year? Not many…25 ish?
Do you make them? Only for coworkers.
How many have you made? None! I have some tim Holtz stuff I want to try but mixed media is not my forte.
Are you involved in Pea Card exchanges? Nope. This is my first challenge group!
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Post by grammadee on Nov 3, 2021 17:54:38 GMT
Happy November, Diva's!
Is anyone else ramping up for Christmas? Define ramping up... I am behind in almost everything I usually do for Christmas, but yesterday I actually purchased some gifts. Found something at Canadian Tire that will work as gifts for dh, his nephew, two of my brothers, and a couple of sons. Bam! Most of my shopping for adult males done!
Also bought my baking supplies yesterday, and plan to bake tarts and cookies next week. My hyperactive 8 yr old dgs will be here all week. The baking should be fun LOL.
My lists are constantly being re-evaluated as I go... Past years I visited alot in the fall, so knew what all the dgk's wanted, did shopping in November, visited the kids in December and delivered the gifts. Then Covid. Last year I did most of my shopping on line (not nearly as much fun as shopping in person), had it shipped to me, then sorted & wrapped, and shipped out boxes to each family. For birthdays I did alot of ordering on line and then having the gifts delivered direactly. But THIS year I will be seeing everyone late November or early December. I plan to learn what they want/need, shop and wrap while I am staying at their homes. No postage costs, and I will get more joy out of it, I think.
How many Christmas cards do you send in a year? My list of family and friends has downsized a bit over the years to about 50. I also have crafty friends I send cards to, so I will prob be sending out 75-80?
Do you make them? How many have you made? I make them. So far I have just over thirty done. Hoping to get together with a couple of nieces next week for a few hours. If I can get some prep work done in advance--diecutting, dry embossing, etc--I should be able to finish quite a few then. The pressure is on, but I have a card kit still put together from last month killing time in a hotel room, so I should be able to finish the cards I need even when I am away from home.
Are you involved in Pea Card exchange? Not this year. I have joined the big one a couple of times, and it was fun to have the excuse to play with my huge Christmas stash and wonderful to receive all the lovely cards, but I think of the list as all-or-nothing so it is really expensive to send out to everyone every year..
Before I leave, I am frantically trying to finish up some pages to take with me when I see the dgk's.
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kitbop
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,382
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Post by kitbop on Nov 4, 2021 21:17:55 GMT
Baking is always fun grammadee! You will be giving your GS good role modeling and some basic understanding (I know at 8 you can't expect them to really learn it, but at least they know some ingredients and tools). I don't start Christmas baking until December...although... we have a new deepfreeze this year, and maybe I should consider early baking and freezing. Wow, that would take a load off! OTOH, I have too much going on already, so I think I'll just pretend I didn't remember the deep freeze  I've had a tragedy today. Enlisted DH to help die cut felt, but he broke my Big Shot (too strong, cranked too hard and broke a tooth inside the machine so it's kaput), then he destroyed my magnetic and plastic shims on my gemini junior because he didn't listen when I told him NOT to put them on the outside of the sandwich. Sigh. At least I can get new shims. But I liked having my big shot for back up die cutting, and I can't justify buying another (my gemini jr does most of my die cutting). |
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gramma
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,892
Location: Sacramento, Ca
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Post by gramma on Nov 4, 2021 21:59:16 GMT
Oh bad DH!! On the other hand - won't that go right straight to your Christmas list?
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Post by DawnMcD on Nov 4, 2021 22:04:33 GMT
Hello friends! It is fun to be back and see familiar faces.
I learned to knit over Covid and have been spending a lot of my crafty time on that but still take time to scrapbook and paper craft. Been feeling the urge to do more so I came back to play.
I am starting to ramp up my Christmas prep. I have been making cleaning abs home prep plans. Making shopping lists and activity plans. The Fall Holiday season is so different now that my children are all young adults. My love and I are having fun discovering new grown up traditions together. I am sure I will be doing lots of older pages from when my kiddos where younger this year. Reminiscing has been very helpful to me as we make this transition.
I send out around 30-40 cards and I make them. I did not get many sent out last year and have about 15 left over. I plan to work on those this first few weeks. I moved my craft room to my youngest room when they moved out and it is a crazy unorganized mess and I really should work on that too!
Looking forward to a fun month together.
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kitbop
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,382
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Post by kitbop on Nov 5, 2021 3:27:07 GMT
DawnMcD - I noticed you were missing! I used to love knitting. I made my small kids lots of beautiful sweaters. But when I started knitting big sweaters, well, that's a lot more work in more boring colours And they weren't as appreciated either! So I kinda stopped - but I still get the itch to knit! It's hard to find time to do all the little things that used to be fun - feels like I only have time for 1 real hobby? I might try crocheting another blanket...fun, colourful, and can be done in small squares. My kids are also young adults but nobody has moved out  so I'm still stuck in the basement. It's funny you mention scrapping older pages. In preparing for a crop this weekend, I became very nostalgic while seeing the teachers layouts of their young kids. So I decided to leap back into my old photos and re-live their small years! However, it can be hard because 1) up until DS1 was 4, we had a film camera, so any photos I gave to grandparents I only have on negatives and 2) I actually need to go through my albums to make sure I haven't already scrapped the photos I find!!! And once I get into old albums, I get lost. gramma - I kinda had my eye on a gemini foil press, or a glimmer machine for Christmas. The gemini foil press is harder to find (out of stock) and more expensive, so I was leaning towards the glimmer machine that would have worked with my big shot...which is now broken! However, I'm not sure that replacing the big shot is worth it given I love my gemini. Argh. DH needs to stop going to the gym.
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Post by mom on Nov 9, 2021 20:08:09 GMT
Hey, hey!! I am finally back and ready to get started. I had District Court Jury Duty that lasted an entire week and by the time I was home, I was d.o.n.e.
Anyways, Im back and nothing on the calendar til Thanksgiving. I have gotten some work done in my scrapbook room. I got my DD album cover done + Im starting on the interior pages and getting them prepped. I have made about 30 Christmas cards for the Pea Swap and I am editing photos for September to work on PL. So things are happening.
Anyway, dropping in to say hello!
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Post by AussieMeg on Nov 10, 2021 6:35:58 GMT
I'm not ramping up for Christmas yet. I usually don't start my Christmas shopping until December, because I don't have to pay school fees in December so I have all this extra money to spend. I had planned to make some Christmas crackers, but the shops only opened back up a couple of weekends ago after lockdown, and I have been avoiding them so far because of how busy they are. I probably won't have enough time now.
I am in both card swaps/exchanges this year. I didn't do it last year and I missed the joy of finding little surprises in my letterbox. I don't make my cards, because I don't have any supplies since I stopped paper scrapping. I always buy Australian themed cards so at least they are a little bit unique. This year I bought charity cards - the funds go to the Salvation Army and Red Kite (childhood cancer).
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msupea
Full Member
Posts: 419
Aug 21, 2020 13:12:25 GMT
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Post by msupea on Nov 10, 2021 21:04:47 GMT
4 day weekend starts at 5 PM! Printed off the challenge list and hoping to start tackling some projects later tonight.
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kitbop
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,382
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Post by kitbop on Nov 11, 2021 1:13:33 GMT
Are your kids at a private school AussieMeg? The rumor is that Australian university is free or at least quite inexpensive? Wondering, as we're currently at that stage of life. Yay for an extra long weekend msupea! Where do you live? We have Remembrance Day tomorrow in Canada, which is a holiday for some, but not all. I'm home, but I have to work Friday and the weekend after! mom - SO jealous of your blank calendar for a couple of weeks - but not about your jury duty. Hoping it wasn't a gruesome or difficult case. |
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Post by AussieMeg on Nov 11, 2021 2:09:35 GMT
Are your kids at a private school AussieMeg ? The rumor is that Australian university is free or at least quite inexpensive? Wondering, as we're currently at that stage of life. Only one kid left at school thank goodness - DS is doing Year 11. And yes it's a private school. We are hoping that DS gets an apprenticeship at the end of this year, then we can get out of school fees one year earlier than we thought. WOOHOO! University isn't free unfortunately. It's not that cheap either, but maybe it is compared to the US. Not sure how it compares to Canada. And over here, most parents don't pay for their kids to go to uni. The kids take out a government HECS loan, and they only have to start paying it back once they start earning a certain amount (I think it's about $46K). It's a really low interest rate, your repayments are only 1% of your salary once you start earning the minimum amount. DD is a Physiotherapist, and her four year degree cost her about $47K give or take. Her HECS loan is a bit more because she did her final placement in Denmark, and she added the airfares and accommodation to the loan. |
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kitbop
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,382
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Post by kitbop on Nov 11, 2021 13:34:58 GMT
DD is a Physiotherapist, and her four year degree cost her about $47K give or take First - the cost of school is surprising news. It's one of those urban legends I guess that Australia subsidizes uni and it's about $400/year! I will spread the truth. You know I'm a physio too? Ours is a 4 year undergrad (I got a BSc, but there are a lot of BKins!), and then "back in my day" we did 3 years for PT, but they've now shrunk it to 2 years with no breaks. You end up with an MSc. Currently, tuition for a BSc is about $7500/year in Canada (varies by school) but that doesn't include books or other school fees. No where CLOSE to the US I'm pretty sure. One of my friends went to Australia for a placement while we were in school - she was shocked by the vehicle costs! There are a lot of Aussie PTs in British Columbia - they come to ski, adventure and work |
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msupea
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Aug 21, 2020 13:12:25 GMT
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Post by msupea on Nov 11, 2021 22:28:46 GMT
Are your kids at a private school AussieMeg? The rumor is that Australian university is free or at least quite inexpensive? Wondering, as we're currently at that stage of life. Yay for an extra long weekend msupea! Where do you live? We have Remembrance Day tomorrow in Canada, which is a holiday for some, but not all. I'm home, but I have to work Friday and the weekend after! mom - SO jealous of your blank calendar for a couple of weeks - but not about your jury duty. Hoping it wasn't a gruesome or difficult case. I’m in Michigan. Veteran’s day off and then a PTO day on Friday. Printed some photos and did all my errands today. We are heading out for celebration dinner (20th anniversary and my oldest committed to a school for softball) and hopefully home to some warm pajamas and free time! |
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Post by AussieMeg on Nov 11, 2021 22:30:12 GMT
kitbop I did know that you are a physio, although I had forgotten when I posted. I don't really understand all of the acronyms or terminology  because I didn't go to uni. In fact only one of my friends went to uni. Back in the 80s most kids I knew left school and got a job. DD's degrees are Bachelor of Applied Science, and Master of Physiotherapy Practice. And yes, everything is expensive here! Houses being the worst. Our rate of pay is generally higher, but that doesn't really offset the high cost of living.
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Post by grammadee on Nov 12, 2021 15:56:25 GMT
Good Friday morning, Diva's! Hope you are having a happy scrappy weekend, msupea ! And I hope that once you rest up from jury duty you can play in your redesigned scraproom, mom . Good luck with your craft market table prep, Ryann. What did you decide to focus on? This week was not on my long range plans. Got a call late last week that the surgeon had a time booked to remove my gall bladder on Monday. I have been on the waiting list for over two years, so not exactly a surprise, but I had become used to being on the never ending wait list, so... not expected right now. My sister-in-law drove me to the city Sunday where we stayed in a hotel. Turned out to be day surgery and by Tuesday afternoon I has home. Doing not too badly physically, but mentally I am a wreck. All my plans for visiting family are messed up. No idea how I will handle holiday gifts. This week I was going to be a dynamo--baking cookies, creating cards, finishing the family calendar, making travel plans. Having frequent naps and not being able to lift more than 4 kg was NOT in my plan... I DID manage to watch the SCT videos from last weekend, so that was nice. Since I am getting my land legs, I am hoping to put together the last two calendar pages this weekend. And if I am not traveling, I guess i will be able to participate in the SCT holiday event weekend next weekend. Hopefully by the end of that I will have created all the Christmas cards I need. See ya later, Diva's! |
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msupea
Full Member
Posts: 419
Aug 21, 2020 13:12:25 GMT
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Post by msupea on Nov 13, 2021 13:22:24 GMT
We can count PL pages correct?
I’ve been able to get through February and half of March so far. 👍🏼
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Post by grammadee on Nov 13, 2021 13:40:25 GMT
We can count PL pages correct? I’ve been able to get through February and half of March so far. 👍🏼 Yes. Good job finishing those months. Count ‘em. |
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Post by AussieMeg on Nov 15, 2021 1:34:12 GMT
grammadee , I'm glad you finally got the surgery, but not so glad that it's made you feel stressed about the holidays. Please just take it easy, the world won't end if you're not able to do all the things you'd usually do. I've just updated my points on the November points calculation thread. I think that I might actually do the Easy Peasy method this month, for the first time ever. This month I am not getting very many points for my layouts. So far only one layout has scored more than 20 points. The others have ranged from only 7 up to 14 points.
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Post by grammadee on Nov 15, 2021 4:06:27 GMT
How was everyone's weekend? Did you get some crafting done?
Finally glued some things together today. Finished two pages during a quick virtual crop this morning. Cut up the remains of a 6x6 pad and have started assembling cards for the Sheetload challenge. Probably have enough pieces for about a dozen cards, but have only six somewhat assembled (still need focals and greetings).
Haven't started counting points yet. Will have to see which system gains US the most points!
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kitbop
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,382
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Post by kitbop on Nov 15, 2021 20:55:46 GMT
Hi Guys I have posted a new schedule for our weekend virtual crops. I know several of you have joined in in the past, and I'd like to encourage everyone to pop in if they'd like - very informal and just nice to meet fellow crafters! Also - we need volunteers to host crops - without someone hosting, they cannot run! If you can volunteer for 1 or several hosting opportunities, please let us know on that thread and we can fill up the schedule! |
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Post by Ryann on Nov 16, 2021 17:36:44 GMT
grammadee How are you feeling this week? I hope your recovery is going smoothly! kitbop I will take a peek at the crop hosting schedule. I haven’t hosted before but I certainly could! November would be iffy but December is possible. We found out my SIL died last weekend and my wife is next of kin. Luckily my wife is on vacation the rest of November and we had no real plans. SIL lived a couple hours north of us so I imagine we’ll go up there a few more times to deal with her personal affects/property. At this point I’m not canceling my craft show vendor commitment as I just have one and it’s still 3 weeks away. grammadee I’m focusing on all things Christmas paper crafts: mini albums, ornaments, home decor and stocking stuffers / co-worker gifts. I’m trying to avoid greeting cards if possible.
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Post by grammadee on Nov 16, 2021 18:09:51 GMT
((((HUGS)))) on your loss, Ryann. |
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Post by Ryann on Nov 25, 2021 16:10:05 GMT
Happy Thanksgiving, Divas in the US! I hope everyone (US or not) is able to enjoy the weekend with some crafty time!
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kitbop
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,382
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Post by kitbop on Nov 25, 2021 20:41:55 GMT
Ryann and all the Divas - happy Thanksgiving! Even though our Canadian Thanksgiving is so much earlier, I still see the US Thanksgiving as the jump off point into Christmas Season. Yikes, here we go! Ryann - I'm so sorry for the upset in your family affairs this month 
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Post by grammadee on Nov 26, 2021 4:05:23 GMT
Happy Thanksgiving, Divas in the US! I hope everyone (US or not) is able to enjoy the weekend with some crafty time!
Yes, a happy weekend to all!
Dh is heading into town Saturday to pick up some on line orders from some of his favourite stores. These are the stores that Time forgot. I hate going there and waiting FOR.E.V.E.R. He loves going b/c he can look around at all his favourite things while he waits. Tonight I ordered something for pick up on Saturday from a different store. I think I will have some crafting time on Saturday morning  |
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Post by mom on Dec 1, 2021 18:11:02 GMT
Sorry I wasn't around much to chat, ladies. I did get a lot done in November.
I got done:
2 birthday cards
104 Christmas Cards
Sept Project life - 10 pages!
8 December Daily pages & cover done
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Post by grammadee on Dec 1, 2021 18:28:49 GMT
Sorry I wasn't around much to chat, ladies. I did get a lot done in November. I got done: 2 birthday cards 104 Christmas Cards Sept Project life - 10 pages! 8 December Daily pages & cover done Wow! Go YOU!
I completed a couple of pages and more than 60 cards, but have yet to add up a point  ... Will get on that in the next couple of days. |
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Post by Ryann on Dec 1, 2021 18:36:03 GMT
I think I did a lot more than what I have documented, but this will have to do! kitbop November Points Total = 569 points |
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Thank you for hosting the Divas!!
because I didn't go to uni. In fact only one of my friends went to uni. Back in the 80s most kids I knew left school and got a job. DD's degrees are Bachelor of Applied Science, and Master of Physiotherapy Practice. 
... Will get on that in the next couple of days.