'Tis the season to be Joyful!

We are having a fabulous Christmas this year! Good times, family, excellent food (Thanks to Monsieur Rodney :D), impromptu visits, generous friends and grateful hearts. Knowing that forgiveness, acceptance, love & salvation was part of the supernatural gift Jesus left under the tree for us over 2000 yrs ago, humbles me. I am completely thankful & joyful as I celebrate with millions of Christ followers all over the world. Christmas time ROCKS our world!!

Christmas moments scrapbooked from 2010. I love the the photos so aptly tell the stories. 

The Story of the Christmas hat by Kim Watson

(most supplies from Echo Park)

 Havin' a Merry Christmas by Kim Watson
As seen in Creating Keepsakes' 2011 November/ December issue.  Copyright Creative Crafts Group.  Posted with prior permission from the publisher.
So glad you stopped by, have the BEST week!

Advent calendar + Christmas project.

I have been SO BUSY lately!

With the end of the school year happening this week & hectic deadlines for Friday & other commitments, I just haven't had a chance to blog which is so frustrating because I have so many crafty projects to share with you. This has also meant I am slow with hauling out my Christmas decorations too this year.

I am happy to say that slowly our home is starting to transform though & starting to feel alot like Christmas. Forget the fact the temperatures are beginning to soar LOL & the pool is looking more & more inviting.

We put our Advent calendar up &amp on the 1st & the kids are LOVING opening each little box to score the candy inside everyday. It is a project I made for a magazine page call some time back but it wasn't picked up needless to say I am so stoked I made it. There is something so rewarding & wholesome about a homemade calendar as apposed to a store bought one. Oh...before I forget: It was inspired by an idea I originally saw on the Lilybee blog some time ago, can't remember who the designer was though.

Advent calendar by Kim Watson

Page Supplies: Cardstock & Ribbon: American Crafts; Patterned paper: My Minds Eye, Fancy Pants, Lily Bee; Rub-ons: Fancy Pants & Lily Bee; Chipboard & Fancy Brads: My Minds Eye, Number stickers & Flowers: Little Yellow Bicycle, Mist: Studio Calico, Adhesives: Fabritac: Beacon, Tombo, 3L; Tools: Trimmer & cutting mat: Fiskars, Xacto knife: Elmer's; Punches: Martha Stewart, EK Success, Tonic; Paper Piercer by Close to my Heart ; Score board: Martha Stewart; Paper & Printer: HP, Software: Adobe, Other: Thread, Sewing machine.

Each box is an empty matchbox covered in patterned paper, embellished & filled with candy!

While I'm up... here is another Christmas project inspired by an article in the Nov/ Dec Creating Keepsakes mag, 'Holiday cards on Scrapbook layouts'.

 Tis the Season by Kim Watson

Page supplies: Cardstock, Pinwheels, Brads & Pen: American Crafts, Patterned paper: My Minds Eye, Fancy Pants; Flocked Transparency, Alpha stickers & Buttons: Fancy Pants; Ribbon & Fancy Brads: My Minds Eye; Journal tags & Felt snowflake: Little Yellow Bicycle, Star pins: Maya Road; Adhesives: Fabrictac: Beacon, Tombo, 3L; Tools: Slice Die cutter: Making Memories; Trimmer & cutting mat: Fiskars, Xacto knife: Elmer's; Punch by Martha Stewart, Paper Piercer by Close to my Heart, Stapler by Tim Holtz for Advantus, Paper & Printer: HP, Software: Adobe.

Digital supplies: Patterned paper & Sparkles by Michele Coleman http://mysecondmile.squarespace.com/, Bracket paper & Bracket frameby Wendy http://wendys-craftycreations.blogspot.com/, Stitching by Kristin Tilley http://wyowoman.blogspot.com/, Word art & twill tape by Ali Edwards at Designer Digitals http://www.designerdigitals.com/, Tag by Chris Hertel http://workforscraps.blogspot.com/, Fonts: Aurulent Sanshttp://www.fontsquirrel.com/, Susie's Hand http://www.dafont.com/

For our 2010 Christmas card, I took x4 photos from our family photo-shoot which were 'less than perfect' but perfectly summed up our family's craziness. I designed the card digitally then had them printed out onto mat photo paper. It was cheaper & faster to do it this way with so many friends & relatives living overseas. For my layout, I printed out a copy of the 6x6" card cover and used it as the focal point on my page. For the title I cut out the sentiment from the inside. 

 This type of page is a great way to preserve out cards inside & out for the kids to remember when they are all grown up.

OK...x2 down...more to follow though.

Hope you are enjoying the Christmas season as much as we are. This time of year is so special for me as the 25th approaches, I become increasing more aware of why we actually celebrate: 'Jesus & His gift of salvation'. 

Happy days to you all!

Thanks for stopping by!

Off for a bit.

Well guys.....this will be my last post for a couple of days. My little brood & I are about to jump onto a plane to go & spend Christmas with my Mom's sister in Port Elizabeth. She is very ill & can't wait to see the children & have Christmas with them.....in all honesty I don't know what to expect but it will be good to have a change of scenery for a week & get to spend time with my Aunts who I haven't seen for a year.

I hope you & yours have a super Christmas together. Can I challenge you to take time to remember what we are celebrating on Thursday. It is not the chubby guy in red or the thousands of $ spent on trinkets & baubles but the miraculous blink in history where God stepped out of His world & became human all for the purpose of providing the last & final unblemished sacrifice. The last peace offering for us to cancel out our sin; so that by free choice & one question, we too can be forgiven. Quite a serious thing to be celebrating, if you REALLY think about it.

So I wish you all a wonderful festive week & I'll see you in a week or so.

Hugs
KJ
X

Hi there guys~

Are you well? I've been just great in case you were wondering why I've been so quiet on the blog front!

We haven't been doing anything earth-shatteringly interesting of late. Although we did go out for a family supper to the Spur steak ranch tonight...& I suppose in the family of a 3.3/4yr old, that is pretty interesting stuff.
T & I actually had eye-to-eye time for a change & enjoyed our food hot,which is unusual. Normal protocol is: gobble whilst trying not to choke, as you swallow chunks whole or send your food back 8 or so times during your stay, while you chase him around the restaurant.....all because tonight Max was on his own private mission. He didn't need one moments minding. He did pop in to touch base with us every so often & to stuff some more toasties & fries in his beak...and then he was off again to play. At one stage we saw him sitting comfortably at the table of some perfect strangers. He was swinging his legs and chewing, which was a bit of a worry at the time, seeing as it wasn't his own food he could have been eating. I opted to remain ignorant at that stage :o) . He happily chatted up a storm with them...our boy the socialite LOL!

This is a pic of him giving me a puppet show...he's the
doctor & she's the nurse...complete with nurse voice.

I am scrapping like mad for Friday's Becky Higgins sketch deadline. I am even attempting a double page L.O & actually loving it. JO! no finger pointing please! I know, I know, I did say @ one stage, that 'doubles were out'....forgive me I was wrong. Are any of you submitting too?

I have a question for you...what size L.O do you prefer scrapping???

* 12x12
* 24x12
* 8x8
* 6x6
*8x11

I'll leave you with this adorable pic of Max doing what he does best....looking darn CUTE!

Have a great day where ever you find yourself because the Lord came to give us life & life more abundantly! So have some fun will ya!

XX

Comfort in the 'usual'.

Normality is a blessing sometimes....

My day is nothing short of normal...the usual routine......no special incident worthy of mentioning. Except that maybe, that that in itself, is worthy of a blog post. My life is good, I have no strife & at last I can truly say I am happy & at peace, with the turn my life has taken over the last couple of months. I'm OK with making school lunch every morning, dressing Max....trying to get him to sit still long enough to brush his teeth etc, blah, blah! The normality of that is sobering after speaking to Sarah about the poverty & need in the suburb of Lavender hill, which is a mere 7 km's from our home. I am in the process of clearing out all my cupboards, in the hope that I will be packing for Canada within the year & it is great knowing that we too can help that community, by passing all our extra over to the families there. Sarah was saying that even the smallest thing is a blessing to them, with so many families in dire straits as a result of aids. So, any local-yokels reading my blog, who feel the urge to contribute anything they might want to get rid of...give me a call & I can make a plan to get it from you.

I am reminded, that it is in this way, we can be Jesus' hands to a broken planet...............XXX

It's time!

MERRY, MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

For weeks & months we have been waiting for this day to arrive. Well it is here..... the special day of the year when we honour the birth of our Lord & Saviour, Jesus Christ. A day that is symbolic of Hope, Sacrifice & Peace, the day when our Lord became human...left His home across the stars somewhere & came to our planet to offer us a way out.

Take this time to reflect on your lives, spread LOVE, JOY & GENEROSITY to all you can & enjoy your day together.

Much love & a BIG hug from the whole Watson Family.

XXX

Anti-God movie coming.

Hi guys...this is something I received from a friend about a new movie coming out in Dec.....I have verified its truth...but you might want to do the same by Googling it.

For evil to triumph it is sufficient that good men to do nothing.
Enough said....

XX

I don't just generally dismiss a movie or book just because someone 'says' it's meant to be something else...but this is worth knowing if you plan to see it (or plan to take your kids).

"Hi! I just wanted to inform you what I just learned about a movie that is coming out December 7,during the Christmas season, which is entitled THE GOLDEN COMPASS. It stars Nicole Kidman and it is directed toward children. What is disturbing to me is that this movie is based on the first of a trilogy of books for children called HIS DARK MATERIALS written by Philip Pullman of England.

He's an atheist and his objective is to bash Christianity and promote atheism. I heard that he has made remarks that he wants to kill God in the minds of children, and that's what his books are all about. He despises C.S. Lewis and Narnia, etc. An article written about him said "this is the most dangerous author in Britain" and that Pullman would be the writer "the atheists would be praying for, if atheists prayed." Pullman said he doesn't think it is possible that there is a God and he has great difficulty understanding the words "spiritual" and "spirituality." What I thought was important to communicate is what part of the agenda is for making this picture. This movie is a watered down version of the first book, which is the least offensive of the three books. The second book of the trilogy is THE SUBTLE KNIFE and the third book is THE AMBER SPYGLASS. Each book gets worse and worse regarding Pullman's hatred of God. In the trilogy, a young girl becomes enmeshed in an epic struggle against a nefarious Church known as the Magisterium. Another character, an ex-nun,describes Christianity as "a very powerful and convincing mistake." As I understand it, in the last book, a boy and girl are depicted representing Adam and Eve and they kill God, who at times is called YAHWEH (which is definitely not Allah). Since the movie would seem mild if you viewed it, that's been done on purpose.

They are hoping that unsuspecting parents will take their children to see the movie, that they will enjoy the movie and then the children will want the books for Christmas. That's the hook. Pullman says he wants the children to read the books and decide against God and the kingdom of heaven.

If you decide that you do not want to support something like this, I suggest that you boycott the movie and the books. I Googled a synopsis of THE GOLDEN COMPASS. As I skimmed it, I couldn't believe that in a children's book part of the story is about castration and female circumcision.