Christmas Pictures

Here are a few of the Christmas pictures I wanted to share.

Our Cute "6 foot" tree

The Boy with his X-Box

DD with her Camcorder so she can practice her Movie Making Skills.

My DH with the final installment of his Seinfeld Videos.

Can you believe how TALL my kids are? They are both almost as tall as me.

MY gift from the DD that made me cry. Isn't it beautiful?

What did you do today?

I had a nice "day One of Four" that I have off from work. I read BOTH newspapers while sitting on the back porch this morning. (I hardly ever get to read the papers the day they are delivered and NEVER get a chance to sit and enjoy the back porch)

Later I played Halo 2 with my DS and proved why I don't play video games. We switched to a car racing game and it's a good thing they weren't real cars!!

Now it's time to go watch the PATS make History!! Come on New England.

Til later...............

Am I the last to know??

Now things make a little more sense. Taken from the Junkitz Website:

We are sad to announce that as of Friday, December 21, 2007 Junkitz has closed its doors.

Wonder if Stacey will have her tatoo removed? I can't believe I didn't figure it out when they were at the Scrapbooking in Paradise Crop. Guess I really DON'T keep up on the latest "Scrapbooking" gossip. I've never been a freak about using certain products or only using "Name Brand" stuff. I shop on sale. 40-50% off...I'm your gal. Sounds like some people got burned by this. Not sure and since it doesn't effect me..don't care.

Hmmm....does this mean that their stuff will be in the clearance bins now? Wahoo.

Til later............

Waiting to go home

It is so hard to work after 4 days off. I've called DH 2x's and keep bugging him when he is trying to do laundry. I'm BORED and miss him. I've had phone duty today and if you've read my blog at all you KNOW how much I love phone duty.

Christmas was wonderful and I will give you a full report soon plus pictures. The kids were happy, the family came to dinner and then DD stayed over for the night. That was great except she will probably never do it again. Seems she got an unwanted present while driving back to her apartment from the friendly "Troopers" sitting by the side of the road at their usual "speed trap spot". UGH!!! I didn't even think to tell her to be careful. How rude to give out tickets the day after Christmas. Think their end of the year bonus is tied to their ticket total?

Speaking of dinner, I've been waiting for my sister to blog and tell you about the new "Family Christmas Story" they will be repeating for years to come. Let me just say that people that tell you their plastic ware can go into the oven should also mention that you should take off the lids first.

Plastic is plastic.

Who knew?

That's all I'm saying.

Hope you had a fabulous day. What was your favorite memory of the day? I have several that do not include smoke pouring from the oven and will share them with you in my next post.

Til later from someone that is apparently "Blonder than I pay for"..................

Merry Christmas everyone!

It's 12:20pm and I'm sitting on the couch in my jammies. The ham and potatoes are in the oven and the kids are due here in about 45 minutes. I just wanted to stop by and wish everyone a wonderful, happy, healthy day. I hope you get/got everything you wanted. I already have everything I could wish for so am very happy. Looking forward to having my sister, nephew & mom over in a few hours.

I have to work tomorrow so not sure when I'll update but hope to have Christmas pictures soon to share.

Til later.......................

Christmas Gift Pics

Since my MIL already opened her gifts, I can give you a peek at what I made her. I decided after the "LATE" birthday card tragedy that I would make her a box and send her cards to have on hand. I can still make her special ones but these would be handy to mail as the spirit moves her. The tin came from JustLetMeScrapbook in Georgia. (LONG story about that order and I still don't feel comfortable ordering from her again so won't give you the website. You can locate it on your own if you wish) I covered the tin with some pretty paper (I think it is from the Anna Griffin pad I have) wrapped ribbon around the tin lid/edge and along the bottom of the paper. The word cards was cut using my Sizzlet alphabet and the flowers were stacked-held together wit a MM jewel brad, and then glue dotted to the front. I used Stickles to make the dots on the yellow flower. It sparkles in person. I tied various ribbons to the handle and then filled the tin with cards.

These cards were from a kit I got from Stampin Up. They made 10 cards, 5 each of the two different styles.

I wanted her to have more cards for different occasions so I included a plastic box with another 10 cards. I decorated the box but apparently forgot to take a picture of it in my haste to get the box mailed. Here are the other cards.

I made her a Christmas Ornament but apparently I forgot to take a picture of that either. DARN. It was really pretty if I do say so myself.

How is your Pre-Christmas weekend going? I got out of bed at 8am yesterday, ran by a neighborhood yard sale and then decided to head to KMart to pick up my RX . I picked up a couple things to finish my Christmas stocking stuffings and then was home by 10am. After the DS left at 11, I headed back to bed and stayed there until about 6pm watching things I had on the DVR. I didn't make much of a dent in the saved stuff but that was as long as I could stand to be "Lazy".

Today, after our routine of watching "Sunday Morning" I went into the DS's bedroom and started going through the ton of totes that we stacked in there. I pulled out some decorations and scattered them around the house. It still isn't the level of years past but I feel alittle better seeing each room with a little bit of Christmas cheer. I also discovered the TONS of stuff I bought last year on "After Christmas Clearance" that was supposed to be gifts to co-workers etc. Oh well, guess that means I really don't need to go shopping this year.

Speaking of little gifts, I left a package for the trash men yesterday and a card with gift certificate in the mail box for our postal carrier. I hope they appreciated the thought.

For the rest of the day I need to print off some instructions for the DS's gift and then start wrapping. I may do some other crafts tonight or tomorrow. Depends on my mood. I'm enjoying the "quiet Time" with my DH so will play it by ear.

Hope you have a very happy holiday. We are looking forward to having the kids back and then my Sister, Nephew & mom will be joining us for Christmas "Lupper"....

Til later..................

Blink of an eye

I can't believe Christmas is TUESDAY. Wow!! I can't believe that the house isn't decked out yet. I'm not stressing. Our lights never got up on the outside of the house. I didn't put any decorations out except for the tree and the DS actually did that. That is NOT like me. I have thousands of decorations and they are still in the totes.

DS is so excited to be getting out of school today for two weeks. He has a party at Karate tonight but the library is also having a party and he wants to go there. WHY? Video games of course. I told him we can go for 45 minutes but then we are going to the party at Karate. I didn't tell him but if the Karate one turns out to be lame, we'll leave and go back to the library. He will be going to his dads house tomorrow morning and then I have 3 days to get last minute things done before he comes back on Christmas Day.

I have my shopping done. I keep thinking about stuff I could buy but then I realize I'm just thinking that because I want there to be alot of gifts under the tree. Luckily, I've explained to myself that we are not in a competition and they will just have to be happy with what they are getting. Goodness knows they already have plenty.

I have a few things/projects I want to work on. Since I had to move the stuff out of the dining room I'll have to work in my scrap room or I may move stuff to the kitchen to be closer to DH.

My In Laws and my niece received their packages and my In Laws already opened all their gifts! Bad girl!! LOL. That means I can share the photos of the things I sent and will do that this weekend. She really liked everything so that made me happy. Now if my niece likes what we sent them, I'll be really happy.

I thought I was going to have an easy day but the only nurse here has a HUGE project I have to work on. Wahh!! We are having a surprise luncheon for one of our co-workers today so that will be nice. Goodness knows I could use something to eat.

Hope you have a super weekend. Enjoy yourself and don't stress to much. We are a blessed nation and really shouldn't be so concerned about the "Stuff". I'm going to try and do a better job of remembering that in 2008.

Til later..............

I do believe in Santa

Not sure where this originally came from and hope I'm not breaking any laws by passing it on. I can't help it. It's to cute!! I got it from my friend, Denise, who knows how I LOVE Santa.



Enjoy.



Til later..................

Elvis rocks!

Good grief. I write about being an organ donor and I get 2 comments. I ask when Elvis dies and 6 of you respond. Guess we know what is more important. LOL.

Yes, August 16, 1977 is correct. I would say Denise gets extra credit for knowing his Birthday. I knew that too but didn't want you all to think I was a bigger geek than you already do.

If you haven't already gone to the website for Scrapbooking in Paradise........go now! You MUST see the You-Tube of the Elvis performance from the crop. Even my DS & DH laughed their butts off when I made them watch it last night.

Speaking of last night..the DS decorated the Christmas tree after he got home from school last night and did a GREAT job. Our poor little "6 ft. want to be" artificial tree looks pretty cute. I took pictures but didn't get them loaded. I'll try to do that soon.

Go....see Elvis...then come back and read my post about being an organ donor. It's still important.

Til later..................

Man, what a weekend

My mother said she is tired of reading the same old posts and insisted I blog something new. I personally think my Friday post is VERY important so if you missed it...scroll down when you are done here. So for MOM.......


Friday I left work early and headed over to Scrapbooking In Paradise for a FREE Crop. The Owners, John & Laura had planned a fun evening as a thank you for their customers. The crop was free, dinner was free, goodie bags were great and they did give aways all night. They even had tons of prizes for BINGO but since I wasn't doing Layouts or cards, I couldn't win (no worries, John gave me a consulation prize cause he felt sorry for me)


One big surprise was the special guests. Stacey Panassidi from Junkitz, Stephanie Barnard from Inque Boutique and also Susan Stringfellow from Inque Boutique. The Inque Boutique gang gave us free stamp set..well John gave us stamps sets so not sure who they actually came from but they were IB stamps. They stayed and ate dinner with us and walked around an checked out what we were doing. They all ooooooooo & awwwwwwwwwwwed over what I was working on but I can't show you cause they are gifts. OH, I did get SP to sign my Junk Bag under my Tim Holtz signature. She actually signed her & her adorable DH's names. He was there too and was so sweet. We talked about her Tatoo and he showed me the one he got since she got hers. It was his College Mascot...looked like a turtle with an M on it but I think he said it was a "Badger"???


In addition to the other give aways they had a contest to find a big green bow hidden somewhere in the store. Who ever found it got to keep what it was attached to...check it out.....





Yep, I found it. WAHOOO. $100 value from EK full of Cutterbee products.



A little while later they had us all gather in the middle of the store and the REALLY special guest arrived.















It was hysterical. Check out their website/blog for a video of Elvis.

Next Elvis gave away more prizes. The second prize went to the person that could tell him "What Day & year did I die?"---Elvis-not me....anyway, I shouted out the correct answer and won another prize. They were holding up the same exact item I'd already won and even though I said I'd take another one....would have made a great gift....they said they would give me something different. I got a 262 stamp set from IB....$43 value.


I've paid up to $65 for a day crop and not had as much fun or won as much as I did Friday night. Guess it was just my turn.


Saturday I had to be up early to pick up the boy from his Library "Lock IN". He had a blast and came home and promptly fell asleep for 8 hours. LOL. I used the time to do some last minute shopping and started clearing the dining room so we could put up the tree.


Sunday I finished clearing the dining room (it took ALL DAY) and even got it put into the scrap room...ORGANIZED..and you can walk into the room and even work at one of the desks. I needed to get Christmas cards and packages in the mail today so we had DS put together the "6 ft" artificial tree. It was a chore but he stuck with it and got it done without any tears. By then it was to late to decorate so DH will be putting the lights on today while I'm at work and tonight we will try & get it decorated. Good thing we keep our decorations up until Epiphany.


OK....so there you have it..my weekend. Now I have a question for you:


When did Elvis die? Post here with exact Date..Month, day, year and lets see if you would have won the stamp set. I'm not saying I'll give you the stamp set if you're right. I'm just wondering if I'm a big geek or if anyone else knows. NO FAIR CHEATING. Don't look it up. I want to know if you remember...from personal memories.

Til later..........................

Gift of Life

I took this straight from "Mel from Art Warehouse"'s blog. She already challenges each of us to do Random Acts of Kindness on Thursdays and now has reminded us of an important thing we can do that costs nothing but can mean the world to another person. Be an Organ donor. Like Mel, I've always had the box checked on my drivers license. I've tried to be sure everyone knows my wishes so they can say YES when/if ever asked. What about you??

I challenge each you today...flip over your drivers license...are you a donor? Do you have all the little boxes check and have you signed the sticker on the back of your drivers license to be a donor?

If you would like to find out more on how to become a donor, here is some links that will help you.
http://www.organdonor.gov/donor/index.htm
Get Started
Register with your state donor registry.More information on how to register to be a donor in your state. Most states, but not all, have donor registries.

Designate your decision on your driver’s license. Do this when you obtain or renew your license.
Sign a donor card now. Carry the donor card with you until you can designate your donation decision on your driver’s license or join a donor registry.

Download a page of eight donor cards to print and sign.

Order a free donor card that will be mailed to you.

Talk to your family now about your donation decision. Help your family understand your wish to be an organ and tissue donor before a crisis occurs. Then they will be prepared to serve as your advocate for donation.


Thanks Mel for the reminder.

Til later..............

Sheetload of Cards

Thanks to the wonderful people at ScrapScene, I've "discovered" another great site for Card making inspiration. It is a new site called Sheetload of Cards and it is a MUST ADD to your list of go-to blogs. The site owner/blogger, Alicia, is super fast at answering emails and has sent me a cute BLINKIE to add to my blog. Unfortunately, I had to put it at the bottom so it runs correctly but I've also added her link to my Favorite BLOG sites on the left.

Check her out and let her know that I sent you. I can't wait to try some of her sketch ideas.

Til later...........

Recipe for Chex stuff

As requested by my buddy, KIP...the following recipe is the BEST holiday stuff on the planet. I must confess that it comes from one of my bosses at work. She makes it every year for the holidays and people FIGHT over the last crumb.

Enjoy, you have been warned.

Holiday WHITE STUFF

2 cups Rice Chex
2 cups Golden Grahams
2 cups Cheerios
2 cups pretzel sticks, broken up
1 can (12 oz) salted peanuts (NOT dry roasted)
1 package white candy coating mix (usually found in the baking section—it is I think about a 20 oz package and it comes in cubes


Put all of the dry ingredients in a very big bowl and mix well. Put a few cubes of the coating stuff in a saucepan on low ( I set the burner on 3). Stay with it or it will burn. Stir regularly. As it starts to melt, add more cubes and continue to stir until they are all melted. ( The package says you can melt in the microwave—I strongly advise against it). Pour white stuff over dry ingredients and mix to coat with a large spoon. Turn it out onto a silverstone baking sheet and spread out evenly. Let dry completely, about 3 hours or so. Break it into pieces and enjoy.


Til later...................

Thomas Kincade#4

This is the final card I've made (so far) using the

Thomas Kincade stamp "Skater's Pond" from CornishHeritageFarms.

Sorry for the multicolored background. Bad lighting in my craft room.

I'll fill in all the details later. Thought I'd post so you know I'm still around. The weekend was full of projects but they are all Christmas gifts so can't post any yet.

Til later......................

Meet Kris

What do you think of this couple? My DD and her new boyfriend.

Til later.......................

Thomas Kincade #3

Thought I'd favor you with another card made using a stamp purchased from Cornish Heritage Farms . This one is made by stamping the Thomas Kincade Stamp "The light of Peace". My mother loves Lighthouses and so do I.

(The beige shading on the right side of the picture is my light source reflecting off the background. Sorry for the distraction)


I stamped the image on a white piece of cardstock from PaperTrey Ink with Stazon Black then embossed. I left a little bit of white showing around the image to sort of "frame" it. I used my "Oval Tag" large punch (purchased from Joanns) -Inked the edge and used a rub-on for the "Peace on Earth". The bow is black grosgrain that is tied to the card using a technique I learned from SSC. The image was then adhered to the black cardstock. In the lower left corner I glued three small "rhinestones" that were purchased on clearance from Michaels. They are meant to be "heat set" to fabric but are perfect for a card using a little glue.

I hope you are enjoying these TK cards. I have another one set to show you along with some special items I've been making with these stamps.

CHF sells Gift Certificates so if you are stumped for a gift for your favorite stamper.........!!!!!

Til later..............

MFC Christmas Party

I'm exhausted but wanted to share some pictures before I call it a night. When you are finished here...scroll down a bit and check out the second Thomas Kincade card I've featured. It came up as a "November post" because I had saved it in draft form and can't figure out how to change the date.

Yesterday the DS and I went to the Medical Foster Care party for the kids we case manage. I can't show you any pictures of them due to Hippa laws but wanted to share a couple of the boy, me & Santa.



Goofy boy will never smile for a picture.

Here I am with my favorite man, after my DH of course!!!
We pulled all the stuff out of the garage today so we could get to the Christmas decorations. We spent the better part of the day pulling out, going through boxes and then setting up the display for the front yard. I purchased all these at clearance sales last year after the holidays.

I didn't realize I'd captured the rainbow effect until I loaded the picture. Cool huh??

This is what it looked like after the sun went down. The top of one of the large trees is not lit & half of the small reindeer too. I tried to figure out the problem but the sketers were carrying me away so it will have to do for now. We will do the outside lights on the house later in the week.

We dragged the "inside stuff" into the house and it is piled up in the DS's room until I can get my scrap stuff cleared out of the dining area. I don't have the energy tonight. We also decided to use the Artificial tree I bought for $5 last year on clearance instead of a real one. We figured we'd save the money this year plus it will be awhile before we could go tree shopping and by then it will only have a couple weeks left to live. DH said we could spray PINE on the artificial one but my sinuses say NO.

How was your weekend??

Til later..............

Thomas Kincade #2

Day #2 of my Thomas Kincade cards.

This is a stamp purchased through Cornish Heritage Farms.

This card was made for a friends Father. She had seen the card I featured on day#1 and wanted her's made just like it. I used the basic supplies but changed it up a-little.

I again used the TK stamp 'It Doesn't Get Much Better' . I used Stazon Brown ink, embossed the image, a scallop edge was cut using my Nestability Dies - Rectangle Scallop and then the image was mounted on a piece of handmade blue paper (Joann Fabrics) then onto brown cardstock. The edges of the designer paper(unknown) was inked with brown Stazon then glued to a piece of white cardstock from Papertreyink. I tied a silver ringed tag to a piece of white twill ribbon which I fringed alittle for effect. I hand wrote "Birthday Wishes". You can see the handmade matching envelope in the background that has a sentiment stamped onto the corner.

My friend said her dad liked the card very much.

Check out Cornish Heritage Farms to see more TK stamps and check back here for my other cards.

BTW, If you haven't checked out CHF yet, they have their new Stamp of the Month and MANY new background stamps. Their customer service & products are first rate!

Til later....................

Christmas Tag

I wasn't going to post today as I've had a long & tiring day, I planned to share pictures of the party tomorrow but I got tagged by Kip and what ever miss Kip wants ,she gets.

1. White or colored lights on your house. White Icicle lights or white lites. White lights on the tree.

2. Hot Chocolate or Egg Nog? Hot Chocolate w/marshmellows.

3. Favorite Holiday food? Cranberry sauce.

4. Does Santa wrap the presents or just sit them under the tree? Santa doesn't wrap the big stuff. Sometimes he leaves all his gifts unwrapped or he wraps them all in the same paper so you know they are from him.

5. Do you hang mistletoe? Yes

6. When do you put up your decorations? Try to do it the weekend after Thanksgiving but with the kids gone we waited. We are hoping to do it tomorrow. They stay up til Epiphany.

7. What's your favorite holiday tradition? We used to always drive around to see lights. Maybe we can do it again this year.

8. What's on the top of your tree? A really tacky star that rotates different colors.

9. Do you have a nativity displayed through the holidays? Yes

10.Candy Canes, traditional or flavored? Or Chocolate Covered Cherries? love traditional CC and Dark Chocolate covered cherries w/liquid center.

11.What's your favorite holiday goodie to make and share? Chex mix w/white powdered sugar.

12.What's your favorite Christmas song? Rudolph the red nose reindeer or Silent night.

13.When did you learn the truth about the "magic" of Christmas? don't remember??? I still believe in Santa.

14.Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Yes

15.Is there a special ornament or Christmas decoration that you wouldn't feel like Christmas without? Stockings I made many years ago.

16. Do you take neighbor gifts/treats to anyone, everyone, a select few? I may start this year.

17.Is your big meal on Christmas Eve, Christmas morning or Christmas afternoon? Christmas afternoon.

18.How do you decorate your tree? eclectically/mixture of kids stuff and nice ornaments.

19.Snow? Love it? Dread it? Tolerate it? No thanks. That's why I live in Florida

20.Do you have a favorite gift? my Raggedy Cheryl & raggedy Larry w/promise ring when was a teenager from my HSS.

21.Do you have a family get-together during the holidays with extended family?Sister, nephew & mom

22.What's the most important thing that you must do each Christmas season? Help others somehow.

23. Do you bake Christmas cookies? not usually

24.Do you leave cookies and milk for Santa? of course plus carrots.

25.What's your favorite Christmas memory? Hard to pick

OK, now your favoite part......I tag : Jenna, Jessie G, Cari (yes again), Lisa D, Mary

I'll try to post another TK card tomorrow plus a post about todays party.

Til Later...............................