A Very Lowkey Thanksgiving

These moments I am thankful for.

xoxo,
Kelster Jean

Black Friday

Are you a Black Friday person? The more people I ask, the more I realize that you either are or you aren't. Some people love the thrill and excitement of Black Friday, and some people can't stand crowds.

Two years ago, hubby and I started the tradition to do Black Friday shopping when we went out to purchase a new TV. We woke up at 2:00AM and were outside of Target by 4:00AM. The TV we purchased only had 15 available at the Target store we were at, so we really needed to make sure we got one! Maps were handed out shortly before opening and I lost Alex around that time. I found him later near the groceries with our brand new TV.

Last year, we didn't really need anything, but since it had sort-of become our tradition (without us realizing it yet) we decided to go out anyways. We went to Menards and purchased a vacuum (which wasn't even on a Black Friday sale!) and candles. Then, I went to Michael's to purchase some photo albums. That's it!

This year, with a lot of stores opening at 12AM, we haven't decided what time we will go out (although we are leaning towards later in the morning). Not too much we're looking for this year. Some places are having really good pre-Black Friday deals, or are having Black Friday all week.

Ruche is one of those such places. Have you ever been on Ruche's website before? {You can also see their blog here}. Ruche has the most beautiful clothes, prettiest jewelry, and all around things to drool over.

My sister was amazing enough to give me a gift card for my birthday that I never used (funny how you have a gift card for a place you love, you don't want to spend it because then it will be gone). Right now, Ruche is doing a lovely Black Friday deal: Sweets for $10, Treats for $15, Deals for $20, and Steals for 50% off. Here are some of the pretties I was drooling over:

This gorgeous night flight charm necklace.

This Seneca Colorblock Skirt in Brown.

These scarlet flower fields bangle set. {Love this!}

And what did I purchase? I am now the proud owner of the following goodies:

This belt I knew I had to have as soon as I saw it. It is so adorable and I am just loving the brown tones lately.

The ring is so beautiful and I will always wear more accessories.

Their dresses and clothes are truly so breathtaking, but as Alex pointed out last night, I am a girl who loves accessories, so it was only natural that I purchased these two things. What would you purchase from Ruche? Any favs? Are you doing any Black Friday shopping?

xoxo,
Kelster Jean

About Me

Hello and thanks for visiting my blog. I'm Kelly Jean a/k/a Kelster Jean.

I'm "la wifa" (in the words of hubby) of an amazing man, Alex, and mom to two furry children, our bunnies Murphy and Maria.

I started this here little blog as a way to document my creativity and fun of daily life. I am a paper crafter and am currently working on my dream of creating for my first craft show.

I share tutorials, projects I've done, and ideas, websites, and fellow blogs that spark the creativity and get the juices flowing.

So feel free to take a look around and if you've got anything on your mind, contact me at kelsterjean@gmail.com

Hugs,
Kelster Jean

it's beginning to feel a lot like....

NOPE! DON'T SAY IT! DON'T EVEN GO THERE! Hubby won't even let me speak those words until well after Thanksgiving. In the meantime, I can sing them in my head. After all, I celebrate Christmas for months in my head!

So, tis the season. I've been working on tons and tons of holiday cards and have been crafting my little hands off. So far I am up to 23 Christmas cards (which may seem like a lot, but really is not much at all when you have to do about 60 or so). I'm not stressing out though, because what I finish, I finish.

This holiday season, I am determined to enjoy every minute of it, and that is just what I intend to do. So, in the meantime, here is what I've been working on lately:

This last card, I cannot take credit for whatsoever, because it was made by my darling hubby. I was working on a card challenge and he wanted to play along. I think for his first card, it's fantastic!

What are you doing to get into the holiday season?

Kelster Jean

Weekend Warrior-Not Such a Warrior

This weekend, I was feeling under the weather, so the Weekend Warrior in me was not such a Warrior. I did manage to get a couple things done though:

Friday: was spent with my hubby. We watched the hockey game and hung out. Hubby made super yummy pork sandwiches on ciabatta (spelling?) bread rolls.

Saturday: was a beautiful day for new friendships. Hubby went in to work a few hours and I dropped some goodies off at the post office, and received some goodies (which I will be sharing later). Then it was off to the Library to volunteer for a Book Sale, where I met some phenomenal ladies, including one named Carol, who provided me with the possible opportunity to volunteer at the nursing home in Sandwich (which of course, I would be honored and love to do). Then, I met some new scrappy friends at the Library and we have promises to get together in December! I don't have any scrappy friends around me, so super excited about that. Saturday night was spent watching Something Borrowed (cute movie but a little hard to watch if you have a best friend that you love so much!) with my dear friend Jessica Lynn and her sister Elena.

Sunday: Sunday was catch-up on scrappy projects time, although if my day went better and I was feeling better, I'm sure I would have been much more productive. So, I started a layout for Erika's Weekly Issue Challenge and worked on some goodie mailers to go out to some girls from Club CK (will share later as well). Then, after having a disaster of fruity tea being spilled all over my craft room (Yikes!), I called it a day and Hubby and I went and had dinner with his parents.

All in all a really hectic but semi-productive weekend. Now, still feeling under the weather, I'm taking the day off to let myself heal. I will leave you with some sneak peaks of things that I have been working on (and cannot reveal yet and you will find out why in future posts this week).

Whole Lotta Inspiration!

Usually, I spend my mornings browsing online. Now that Halloween has passed, my eyes are focused on the Christmas season and nothing else. I know that there is Thanksgiving and there's lots of people out there that say "Hey, don't forget about Thanksgiving," (my hubby is one of these people!) but hey, I consider Thanksgiving part of the Christmas season. I know that sounds crazy, but isn't the whole Christmas season about being thankful for what you have and the act of generously giving? I think so!

So, back to not rambling, I have started my Christmas cards, and actually have about 12 done so far. I know that may seem like a lot, but that's nothing compared to some of my scrappy friends. So today, I plan on really getting some stuff done. So when browsing online, I found this amazing Cards That Care Blog Hop via this blog, i love it all. If you are a crafter {and I know my sister will appreciate this} you like to find inspiration when you're feeling uncreative. And here it is!

This Blog Hop is filled with so much inspiration it's just crazy! All of the cards are beautiful! Every single one of them.

Card by Jennifer McGuire from Jennifer McGuire Ink.

Card by Kelly Marie from Lawn Fawn.

Card by Laurel Beard from Paper Crafts by Laurel.

Cards by Monika Wright from i love it all.

And that is all I'm showing you! The rest you will have to check out on your own. There is a super long list of these gorgeous cards so check them all out! I will be for card inspiration and will of course, share all my goodies with you!

Happy Sunday!

Challenge: Blurry Photos

Everyone takes blurry photographs. It happens! I know I have tons of blurry or imperfect photos just sitting, waiting to be chosen for pages or albums. I've never tried to scrap these imperfect photos because I don't want to highlight that I didn't get "the perfect shot." Well, recently, one of Erika's Issue Challenges over at Club CK was to do just that: Use a blurry photo for your LO or project.

Immediately, I thought of: how can I "sneak" a blurry photo into my LO without having it really be noticed as a blurry photo? But when flipping through photos I saw this photo of my Mom, Sister, and I, I knew I had to use this one. This photo was taken with my Blackberry in a movie theatre bathroom. It was July 4th weekend and we went out for a belated hangout for Mom's birthday to see Bridemaids. We had so much fun that day just hanging out and seeing where the day took us.

It was a day that just had to be scrapped! Everytime I see that photo it makes me smile.

My Mom loooooves the color purple, so using this color was a must! Instead of "sneaking" the blurry photo in, I highlighted it to it's fullest potential. I'm very happy with how it came out, and realized that there was really no need for it to be sitting in a box for months. I can't wait to use more blurry photos in more layouts.

Next time, challenge yourself to use some of those blurry shots! Yourself from the future will appreciate that you used it.

Hugs,

Kelster Jean

Weekly Specials - Post Halloween

Happy November 1st to all. Time for a fresh start on a new month. Time to focus on the next upcoming holiday. Time for lots and lots of amazing things.

But, before that, time to reflect on the wonderful past holiday: Halloween. In the past years, Hubby and I have always been about this holiday. Even if we aren't doing anything at home, I always get into Halloween at work. This year, however, I just wasn't feeling it. I know I'm not the only one. Hubby wasn't either, and reading lots of Halloween posts on blogs, lots of people weren't feeling it either.

So, in addition to the Weekly Specials, I will share a quick post on my Halloween. Since I was a slacker, it doesn't even deserve it's own post. At the last minute, I piled on Alex's fishing gear and went to work as a fisherman. Only a few other people at work dressed up:

And at nighttime? A Big Nada! We watched Ghost Hunters International, shared a caramel apple, and I did some crafting. Now onto some better things! Enjoy these goodies:

I will start with my ever-so-favorite Dear Lizzy. Three amazingly inspiring photos. The third photo is beautiful!!!!

Love this untraditional costume/outfit! Super cute and really love those boots!

This is amazing! I really wish I could dress up the bunnies like this if they would sit still for 2 seconds!!! We tried to dress up Murphy in a Santa hat one year for Christmas and it did not work out at ALL!

This post makes me so excited for when we have kiddies of our own to trick-or-treat with.

Love this inspiration-themed Halloween. I can't wait to see her version of Wednesday Adam's outfit.

It looks like Elsie had so much fun this holiday. I really hope next year is a little funner for me and Alex and we start our own traditions.

Here is a creepily, scary story for you. I was on the edge of my seat just reading this!

These goodies and these goodies look so amazingly good! I am so in love with all of these goodies for this birthday/Halloween party. Yummy!!!!

This post about "Ariel" is sooooo precious (and she is super adorable!)

This Halloween party looks like it's right up our alley. It's so our style and something we would really enjoy. And check out how they dressed up for Halloween! So amazingly cool.

Seriously, this town is soooooo amazing! I want to live there! Look at all those people! I'm so jealous. (Also read her posts about other Halloween fun and past Halloweens).

Well dearies, that is all for now. Hope you enjoyed the post Halloween goodies! More fun posts to come soon!

xoxo,
Kelster Jean