Another year is almost over....!!

I was copying things over from my 2009 calendar today and realized that the year ends on Thursday!   It's amazing to think how fast the time seems to fly by.  I can hardly believe that 2010 is just days away.  It seems like yesterday when we were waiting for the year 2000, and I can't believe that was almost ten years ago already...YIKES!  Why does the time go by so fast now, it's almost scary at how fast that ten years flew by!    WOW!!

Today was a great day for staying in and getting things a  bit back to normal.  It was a very windy and rainly morning and I spent most of the time doing chores and also took some time to have tea with Julie, when she stopped by.  She gave me my Christmas gifts today and they were both awesome.  I now have another Gift Certificate to my LSS, (WooHoo)..and a really pretty gold ornament.  The ornament is really nice and one that you could hand up year round.  It think I will probably keep it out and hang it from one of the little shelves in my craft room.  It was nice to get to see her and see her new car too!  

After Jul left, I went back to work,  putting away all my Christmas Gifts and then moved on to my craft room.   I wanted to have DH hang up the Making Memories Embellishment Center he gave to me as on of my Christmas gifts.  But, it was not that simple, but it meant that I had to first have him move my "Ribbon Shelf", to a different area and also another shelf that I have been wanting to move for a few months.  I am happy to say that they have all been moved and my new unit is up.  Now I am in the process of cleaning up from everything that we had to move around and to put everything else back in it's place.  I am also in the process of filling up the embellishment center, which I'm sure won't take long.   I really like how moving a few things around turned out and it did give me some extra shelf space too, something I need.   It seems I NEVER have enough storage space in my room.  


It's taken me a long time to really admit it, but I do have TOO MUCH stuff and while moving things around today, I realized that I need to really use up a lot more and get back to crafting.  I have really missed it and can't wait for the new year to arrive, so that I can focus on nothing but crafting.  Once we have all the Christmas decor down and everything is put away, my new goal is to craft a lot more and also start sorting through my things and decide what I need and what I can either sell or give away.  I still need some more craft storage units and I'm thinking I will use my gift cards to buy some sort of storage units instead of MORE goodies!  I am OUT of space!  It's time to craft MORE and shop less! 



  While DH was doing all that for me...I starting writing out a few Thank You notes for all my awesome Christmas Gifts.  I used some cute store bought cards for most of them, but I will also make some for very special gifts.  I started on those this afternoon too and finished one.    It's one I created using some super cute images from Pink Cat Studio.   I picked a cute sledding image that is from the "Lily & Billy Winter Stamps" set.  I colored everything with my Copic markers and  then simply cut some various shapes for layers on my Cuttlebug.   I also colored the same image in totally different colors and will use those for cards too.
  

Here is one of my handmade  "Thank You" cards--

 

...and these are the extras I have colored for more cards!  

  I absolutely LOVE my Copic markers and am totally thrilled with how well they blend and how fabulous they are to color with.  Copics ROCK!!  It's so relaxing simply to stamp and color and I LOVE IT!!  I could color all day long I think and be very happy!!


  That's it for today!  We did get a lot done and I feel good about that!  As much as I LOVE Christmas, I am glad it's over.  Once we get the rest of the decorations down and put away I will be thrilled to have all my free time to craft!  Now I just hope I keep feeling okay and do NOT get sick again or have any bad Fibro flares!!

Merry Christmas!!

   ....And what a very nice Christmas I have had so far!  I am thrilled with all the wonderful gifts I have and the fact that many of them are craft related.  My DH and my boys were ALL very good to me and I'm looking forward to putting all my new things in my craft room and also to doing a whole lot of shopping too.

   They all not only bought me crafty  gifts, but they all gave me Gift Cards to my LSS, AC Moore and Michael's too!  I have plenty of money to spend in the new few weeks or months and plan to spend a little a time and really take my time to pick out things I have wanted!

   My other gifts were all awesome too, I also have a great new "Lambie" Robe from Bath & Body, along with some candles and a Gift Card, several bottles of WEN hair cleanser, which is my favorite, the B Set of Copic Spica Pens, a new SU Punch that was on my wish list, new stamps, 2 mini book, 3 new calenders,  lots of gorgeous new papers, a Making Memories Embellishment Center and all kinds of goodies for the house.  My Mom gave us new "Lavender Sheets" along with a matching Electric Blanket in a deeper hue of purple, which will be fabulous for me.   She and Don also gave us all money, gave DH and the boys new Jeans and Tees.  I also received a Pedicure Gift Certificate and a separate money envelope for Craft goodies!   We also received a Gift Certificate to one of our favorite restaurants and I won $20 on a Lottery ticket too!  It's been a very very generous Christmas here and I feel so blessed.

    Right now, I am baking two big pans of Stuffed Shells and just made a large green salad to take over to DH's Brothers house, for another gathering later this afternoon.  It's nice to have a little break in between to rest for a few hours.

   I wanted to THANK everyone for all the kindness and generous gifts I received from not only my family but from my wonderful friends.   I truly am a very lucky girl and very thankful for my family and awesome friends.

   Merry Christmas to you all and I HOPE your day is a nice as mine has been! 

Holiday HUGS!!

   It's almost here--it's Christmas Eve and I am actually done with everything I wanted and planned to do this year! 

   Today, I am not feeling so well and I am thankful that we are actually staying home tonight, as I don't really feel well enough to go out.  I am also thankful that DH and Alex are both home today and both are doing extra things to make it an easy day for me.

   I'm going to relax and rest, so that hopefully tomorrow will be much better!  I am happy that I have this extra day to rest!  

   Hoping you all have a wonderful day and lovely evening.  I hope you ALL feel well and will enjoy your time with family and friends!

   My very best wishes to everyone for a wonderful Christmas!  

Hugs and Love,

Lisa

Happy Wednesday!!

Yes....!!  Wednesday it is and I can hardly keep up lately.  At this point I really am anxious for Christmas Day to be here.  That way I know I will be ALL done with shopping, wrapping, baking and all the running around that goes with it all!

I wish you all a wonderful week and hope everyone has time to set back, relax and remember the true meaning of Christmas.  Enjoy time with family and friends and make it a day full of LOVE and Happiness!

Hugs to all my friends...please take care and be well!   

A Year In Cards - December 2009

  Today, I finally found some free time to craft and I decided to work on a challenge.   This particular challenge is one I do monthly and it's a Card-Making Challenge that I have been participating in ALL year.  I wanted to be sure to complete the  December Challenge for my monthly badge and was very pleased to have done all twelve this year!!

  If anyone wants to follow along you can find the Challenge - called - A Year in Cards - December 2009 - by Kristina Werner at this link -- CLICK HERE!!  This month the challenge is to make three cards using some 'buttons' from your stash.  As soon as I saw her cards, I thought they were really cute and it looked fun.  You will also find a Video along with a Printable PDF file with the instructions for each card and you can find those - HERE!

  These are the cards I made for the December Challenge --

 

and this next one, which ended up being my favorite...

 

  I actually really enjoyed this challenge and thought Kristina, had some great ideas.  I'm sure in some way I will use the ideas for other cards.  I do hope that this FREE class with be offered again in 2010, and if it is, I'll be joining in again!

   Tomorrow, I think I am going to work on the "COLOR" Challenge that is being hosted at the "Ch{all}enge Masters" website.  You can find that challenge at this link - Click Here!   There are actually several challenged this month, and every month, but the COLOR one is next for me!  To check out or participate in any of the other challenges, please go to this section - Click Here!  To see a fabulous 'Mini Book', created by my friend Sharon or to join in on her "Altered Group" Challenge, please go to her group - by clicking Here! 

  As Always!   Happy Crafting!!

My Christmas Baby!!

....Just about 23 years ago I had one of the absolute best Christmas Gifts ever.   That was the year that my oldest son, Brian was born and that was back on December 19, 1986.    I can still remember how excited I was when my doctor confirmed I was pregnant with my first child and that I would be having a "Christmas Baby".   My due date was December 23rd, but I was lucky and Brian wanted to be sure we were back home for Christmas, so he arrived 4 days early on December 19th.  What's even more ironic is that my second son, Alex is my "Easter" Baby and he was born on Holy Thursday back in 1992.   Seem my boys like to have their birthdays right around special Holidays!

   Below is a picture of Brian, on Christmas morning back in 1986.  I was 6 days old and you can barely see him in his tiny little "Santa" outfit lying against his big white Teddy Bear that Santa had brought for him.  I still remember that morning like it was yesterday, at times and it was a wonderful Christmas - one that will always be so special for me!  

    Today, I am back to trying to making him a really nice Birthday card and it's been a challenge to come up with one I really like.   I've spent almost the entire day working on this card,  but I thinkI finally have one that I am happy with.   I had made two others, but simply did Not like them...so they are now in my "scrap" pile.   Making "male/masculine" cards is pretty much always the hardest for me.  You would think with DH and two sons in my family, I would have plenty of experience, but I always struggle with them.  I had the same problem when I was working on DH's and Alex's Birthday cards this year too! 

   I started my day with some cleaning and was re-organizing some of my stamps in my craft room.  While I was organizing the Stamps, I was also looking for something to possibly use on Brian's card, that's when I found the "boxes of presents" stamp, that I used for the cards.  I thought I would use my Copics and make it all very vibrant, so I was then ready to try again.

  I stamped a few of  the images on white Card-stock with Memento Black Tuxedo Ink.  I had planned to color it with my Copic and began with my Copic Spica "Glitter" pens instead.  As it turned out, I liked the look of the sparkle from the Spicas so much, hat I ended up using ONLY those pens and really like the end result.  I then added some 3D Crystal Lacquer on a few parts of the colored image and dusted it with a layer of ultra fine glitter!  

  Next, while it was drying, I used my Cuttlebug cut some long scalloped rectangles in red and black and later cut the image out also in a scalloped rectangle shape.    I embossed each of the red layers and adhered them to a black 'DCWV' card.  I stamped "Happy Birthday" in Tuxedo Black and cut that out with my SU Label punch and adhered it to a black rectangle.  I then added two black "pearls" as accents.  I  created my inside sentiment on my computer and printed it out on white card-stock and then hand-signed it.

 

    Below are two pictures of the finished version of the card.  I also made a matching envelope and that is also in black and red.  I really think he will like it and I hope to be able to hand deliver it to him on Saturday....(pray we do NOT have a blizzard).  I am hoping to go down to the Pub, where he works and surprise him.   I also went with the Black and Red theme, because that is kind of the "theme" color of the Pub!  

And this is another view....

    I assembled the card (after everything was dry) and added a black and white polka-dot ribbon and I was done.   I sure hope he likes it!  He's my more artistic son, and is pretty creative himself.   I think it turned out to be a pretty well for a  "Male" Birthday card.  It's still so hard to believe that my son,  "My Christmas Baby" is now all grown-up!  

   Where does the time go?

I do NOT like this COLD WEATHER..........Brrrrrr!

Not one bit.....please bring Summer and warm weather back to me!  This is too cold for me...and it's ONLY December!  ARGH!  I dread the thought of how I am going to feel once January rolls in, as that tends to be our worst month.  YUK!!  Thank goodness for our wood stove and how fast and warm it keeps the whole house.  It's so much warmer than simply turning the heat up and up!  I LOVE it and can't imagine living in New England without one. 

Speaking of things I LOVE, I have fallen in love the Pink Cat Studio Stamps and I am very  excited that they are now being carried at Cutters Creek.   I think the images are adorable and had a great time coloring some of them with my Copics.   This is a picture of the first card I made with an image of "Itty Bitty Betty"--

 This image is one that is available from the "Itty Bitty Christmas" stamp set and just happens to be one of my favorites.   I colored her with my Copic Markers and as always, I made sure she had a "Purple" outfit, as I LOVE Purple!!    You can find the Pink Cat Stamps  in the store at this link - Click Here!  I have also ordered the "Limitless Limbs" set along with Doodle Garden Set and can't wait to make all kind of cute things with them.

Please stop over at the Cutters Creek Design Team Blog to see what the other design team members have been creating.  There are some really cute "Holiday" projects and we are all working to add new things, so check back often.   Please feel free to leave a comment if there is a project or idea you would like to see.

Other than lots of "coloring" it's been a day of rest for me.   I didn't manage to get any more wrapping done today, but I hope to do some tomorrow.   I still plan to go Christmas shopping with Alex for a couple hours too.  I just HOPE it's not as cold as it was today!  I had originally planned to go with Brian while he went out to shop around for a new vehicle today, but decided it was too cold for me to be outside at the car dealers-- and I passed on that.   I think he may have found an SUV "Nissan Pathfinder" that  he really seems to like.  Hopefully, he make his find decision this  weekend and then will have it early next week.  It'll be nice to have another SUV in the family and between his and Alex's Jeep, we should be all set for snow and getting around,in the worst of the winter weather!  Yippee!!

Speaking of cold...I think it's time to add another log to the fire...so I'm off to do that and make some dinner!

Snowflakes, Gifts and more....

   Woohoo!  We lucked out again and the snow that was due here, turned out to be ALL rain and makes me a Happy Girl.  It's a very nasty, windy and wet day, but I will take rain over snow any day.  The only time I really like to see SNOW is a nice fresh layer on Christmas morning, and if it that was it, all winter.  I would be a happy girl. 

   Speaking of snow and snowflakes, I made some more really cute "Gift Tags" out of some snowflakes I cut with my Cricut yesterday.  I used the  "When It's Cold Outside" for this set --

   And I also used the same cartridge to cut these gorgeous "Purple" snowflakes for two of my Christmas Cards.  These snowflakes, along with some pretty paper and some bling make very easy cards.  I use Bazzill Swiss Dot Card-stock for them all, to give them an extra bit of texture. 

For this card, I also used my Cuttlebug and some A2 Embossing Folders to add another element to the card.   This has quickly become one of my favorite Cricut Cartridges.

   It's from the new line of  Limited Edition Mini Cartrdiges,   I own all three of the Christmas editions, which are available now at Cutters Creek.   Plus, I have already pre-ordered the next set which will be coming our soon and will out in time for Valentine's Day, Easter and Mother's Day.  Those new Minis are available now for  Pre-Order and are only $19.99 each, which is a fabulous price.  If you want any of these adorable cartridges, please hop over to  Cutters Creek and place your orders!  These are really fun cartridges at great prices.

   Once I finished with my Snowflakes, I created some different tags, using my Cuttlebug and some of the holiday-themed Embossing folders.    I added some "bling" -- glitter, ribbon and"Twinkle Jewels", which I adhered with Glossy Accents .  These were also very easy to make and you can create them in a wide variety of colors and styles...it's all up to your imagination!

 

      If you don't have a Cuttlebug, I highly suggest you try one, I think you'll LOVE it and how much you can do with it.  I use mine with Spellbinder Dies to cut shapes and also with Cuttlebug Dies and Embossing Folders.  It's very easy to use and you can do so much with it.  I use mine pretty much every time I craft and I LOVE it.  My hubby bought it for me from my Wish List, last Christmas.  Thanks HUN!!



    And one more bit of fun news before I sign off...I plan to start adding some little contests and challenges for all my friends who FOLLOW my blog.   I also like to find new blogs to follow and this will be a fun way for me to find new blogs that I can follow too.   I  enjoy seeing other blogs and find lots of really cute and fun ideas from following them.    I plan to be posting more often and to keep ideas fun things, so please follow along.  I love having people stop by and visit and love comments.    There will be BLOG CANDY coming soon and you could be the first winner, simply by following me.  Stop back soon for more details! 

   Wishing you all and fabulous day......full of fun, love and happiness!    As always, HAPPY CRAFTING!!

WooHOO! I won Blog Candy Today!!

YIPPEE!!

If you look back on my post from Saturday, you find out more about the Jingle Bell Blog Hop that I was following this weekend.  It ended up being really fun and I found some great blogs and saw some wonderful creations.  I also found out  today that I won some awesome Blog Candy from "Jamilie", one of the Challenge Masters that took part in the blog hop.   Please check out her blog to see my wonderful prize and her awesome creations. - Click Here!   I wanted to post in my blog to personally thank Jamilie for her generous gift.  I'm very excited to have won and will be looking forward to having these new goodies to craft with!  Thank you again, I am very happy and excited to have won your prize!

Jamilie is a Design Master for the Ch{all}enge Masters and is a very talented crafter.  I also belong to this group and enjoy taking part in the monthly challenges.  Jamilie is the Design Master for their Card Group and since I absolutely LOVE card-making I took part in her challenge last month, and will happily try again this month.

This is the card I made for her "Circle Card" Challenge in November -- Click Here -- then scroll down to the second card.  It's also posted here on my blog over the right and a few cards down from the top.

  

If you want to play along the new Challenge for December is already up and you can find it at this link - Click Here!

Happy Friday!

  Another week has flown by and as of today we only have three weeks to go until Christmas.  I can hardly believe how close it is.  I still have a little bit of shopping to do, but I think I pretty much am finally done and know exactly what I have left to do.

  I mailed out all my Christmas Cards earlier this week and I was happy to have that done.  I worked hard on them and I hope every one likes them.  I also started a bit of wrapping, but boy is wrapping tough on Fibro, needless to say, I did too much one day and paid dearly for it yesterday.  From now one, it's a couple a packages a day, so I do not have another pain day like that!  AWFUL!  
   Luckily, I have everything ready and most things are now in big bags and need only tissues and ribbons, so it will move along and it'll get done or get DH and Alex to help out, if I have too!  I did ship out all the things that need to go, so that was another plus! 

  My next task is to do some decorating and then work on making some more 'Hershey Nugget Tins".  Then right before Christmas, I plan to try make some chocolates and I bought a Candy Making Set at Michael's last week, along with some melting chocolate and chocolate molds.    I thought I would try some Chocolate lollipops and maybe some chocolate dipped pretzels.

   I had a terrible Fibro day yesterday and could NOT do a thing, it was one of the worst flares I have had in a long time.  The highest pain level I've had in months.  It was a very rough way to remember to slow down!

  

Woohoo! I finished my Christmas Cards!!

...And what a great feeling that is.  I have literally been working on my cards off and on and of since mid-summer.  It's a lot of work to make all your own cards, and I am already planning ahead for next year and going to make them all year long, so I'm not "swamped" this late again!

  But, my 2009 cards cards are FINALLY all made, addressed, stamped and totally ready to go.  A huge accomplishment and one that I am truly happy to have done.  I also managed to wrap up three special Christmas gifts and also packaged them, so that all ready to ship out tomorrow too.    It did, amazingly, take me the last three days to get this DONE, but I am thrilled that I have finished. 

Now---I can concentrate on wrapping the gifts that need to be hand delivered locally and then finish up with the ones that stay here!  It's still quite a bit, but having my cards and mailing packages done, is awesome. 

I am also going to start looking to see if I can find a new "smaller" tree to buy and give away or donate our big tree.  Its' simply too heavy, to hard to get in/out every year and I think it's time we scaled down a bit.  The kids are older and I'm the ONLY one who does the decorating...and I simply can not do it all anymore.  Having Fibro just make it much too hard...and I am way too tired.

Today, I feel pretty good consider how much I have done in the past three days--I HOPE I can continue to feel okay and if so, I'll manage!    Now...to focus on finding a TREE is my next task!   If not...we may be "treeless" this year and scale back on the other decorations too, which is kind of a bummer!!