New Years Eve~ Christmas Shopping Reality Sets In!!!!!

Just had to have a little "fun" with the "after Christmas" reality.....my daughter bought me this stamp a few years back...thought it seemed so fitting.....as does the card below it...I don't think it needs any explaining....hope it makes you smile.........Have a Happy and Safe New Year Everyone!!!!  I will be back tomorrow with another post.

Some of My Favorites From 2009

As the year winds down, I still find myself just as busy as during the Christmas Holiday rush......taking down both trees...poor things, I hadn't watered them since Christmas Eve, and they were ready to burst into flames....today its packing up all my other holiday items and think I am getting my Valentine "stuff" out.

So today I thought I would share just a few of my favorite cards I have made in 2009......had a hard time choosing, but here are a few of them!.

I am also working on my Valentine items to post soon....I could hardly sleep last night as these ideas kept me awake, I had to finally get up and let my brain "rest"!!!  Enjoy!!!

Do You See What I See??

Well, I have to admit Santa was verrrrrrrrry good to me....to say I was surprised is an understatement.....I was almost hyper-ventilating!   No kidding.....No only did my wonderful hubby update me to the Cricut Expression, but I received the Gypsy, too, plus 2 new cartridges.......and a new Epson printer....woowho!!!!

I love the Cricut, there is so much to do with it and it fits right in with all my other card making and scrapbooking supplies...and I got the Royal Blue one...so pretty!  It came with Serenade (thats what I am showing in the picture of cut items) and Plantin Schoolbook...the Gypsy came with 2 pre-loaded cartridges.....I am in cartridge heaven.......hope Santa was good to all of you!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

Christmas Eve...my favorite...candle light church services....finger foods.... the anticipation of Santa's arrival.... the reason.....the birth of a very special baby.....celebrating "His" birth....family....baked goods....friends.....thoughts of loved ones....really...what could be any better!!

A few things to share today.....we had our family Christmas on the 20th.....it was a wonderful chaotic day.....good food and good times!  Thought I would share a few pictures of the chaos...loved every second of it!

Also received this wonderful card from my friend "Curt"....have to share it...was so happy he was so thoughtful to send me one of his creations...thank you so much Curt!!!

Merry Christmas everyone....have a safe and happy holiday!!

Totally Punched Replaces House Mouse

I have been MIA for several days....our family Christmas is Sunday...I had 13 children to shop and wrap for...not an easy task...the wrapping put my back out...no kidding...from sitting in the same position for 10 hours straight wrapping...today is the cooking and cleaning.....I am getting too old for all this...I was thinking back of my Christmas when I was a child...so much less hectic...but maybe that is because all I had to do was wait for Santa...much more fun...  :>)  !!!  So all that being said, my blog has been neglected.....this is a card I am not "in love with"...but it was almost done, so thought I would finish it and at least have "something" to post!
I used the SU ornament punch for the vase and  flower punch for my poinsettas......just a quick card...nothing special......I need to get busy getting ready for tomorrow....my morning started out bad...spilled my OMS all over my work table.......my card was intended to be a "House Mouse"!

A Bit of Sunshine On this Cold Winter's Day!!

I made this for a challenge to make a card using your favorite flower and colors in your garden.  A hard task for me, as I am a BIG flower gardener and love most flowers and colors...but one of the first beautiful flowers besides the daffodils and tulips to bloom in my garden are my Iris's..and I have LOTS!  I love the colors of purples and yellows together.....a cheery card, wouldn't you say??  Scroll down below to see my other posts for today.....still working on my TH tags...so behind!

House Mouse Sweet Tooth~Thank You Curt

I love the House Mouse stamps, I own a "few"...lol...but this one I got from my friend "Curt" along with some candy canes and the cutest doggie card that inside said "you lucky dog"....how cute is that?  I stamped a few images last night, and got at least one done...in "honor" of Curt sending me the stamp, I used his method of CCP to color in my mice and candycanes, I used a white pen for the white on the candy canes and the little mouse teeth, but I wish I would of just left them alone.  The background was new CB EB folder I received recently..you can just see a peek of it!

Last photo is the beginning of our sunrise this morning (a very cold morning of about 8 degrees) over the snow......we might have a peek at some sun today...hope so...have a nice day!

Tim Holtz 12 Tags of Christmas Day 3 (for me)

I think this tag has been my favorite of the ones I have done so far, maybe because I had most of what I needed to complete it...so here is my take on it...you can see Tim's here ....the santa's little tag says "happy holidays" and the tree one says "blessings".........come back later for another post...I am on a roll!!!

I'm Dreaming Of A White Christmas

Brrrrrrrrr......it's cold outside......about 6 degrees here right now.....all the schools were closed...we had about a foot of snow...its been snowing all day...and blowing white outs.....I'm inside with a hot cup of coffee with some yummy peppermint creamor....all cozy and warm!

I made the tree for this card today with the MS punch...I saw a card on SCS and on my blogging friend "Curt's" blog, and had to create one....the embossing folder is one I recently purchased from the HSN......I decided to do the SCS challenge, an all white card.....I added some stickles to the snowflakes......more tomorrow...keep warm!

Tim Holtz 12 Tags of Christmas Day 2 (for me) & A 31 Year Old Card In The Making!

I finished my 2nd Tim Holtz tag for his 12 tags of Christmas...he is on day 10 now...I have so much catching up to do!  Again I struggled with not having everything I needed...I have a small list going for after Christmas to maybe splurge on!  I didn't like it at all last night, but after walking away from it, I liked it a bit better this morning!

My second thing to share and most important to me is a card I made for my oldest son's birthday this month!  When he was in first grade, his class drew pictures to put in a weekly paper of ads, each child had a business that their drawing was put with....he will be 37 this month, so that is how old this picture is on the front, I love it, it has yellowed with age and is perfect in my eyes just as it is....I made a copy of it on my printer on cardstock to keep the original intact!  I am sure he is going to get a big smile out of this....but look at all the detail he has in this drawing for a   first grader.......I have been bugging him to start his own stamp line, and he is interested but how the heck do you even start??  He has alot of drawing talent...no schooling for it, it all just comes natural.....

Woowho 2nd Post Today! Tim Holtz 12 Tags of Christmas Day 1 for ME!!

I finally finished my Tim Holtz tag for day one...I have to admit I messed it up several times by not having the correct products......but at least its done!  I have 2 more in progress and he is on Day 9 already...hope I can catch up, and I am trying to do a few more challenges, too...busy~busy!  Look at the post below I posted this morning for more of my tags~general ones I did for a challenge!!!

Moxie Fab World Tuesday Trigger Challenge

Pottery Barn Platter

My Take On The Challenge

I love to do challenges and haven't had much time lately, but I subscribe to "Cammie's blog and saw she had a challenge posted at Moxie Fab World and decided to give it a try!  She based the challenge on a platter she saw in a Pottery Barn Catalog....I decided to go a bit "outside of the box" so to speak and do tags, as I need LOTS of tags.....I used my Cricut and the new Winter Woodland cartridge.   Kind of like how they turned out!!

I am currantly working on the Tim Holtz 12 days of tags...none are finished...but will post them as soon as I get them done!  He does some amazing work.

On another note, I went to "M's" yesterday and they had their wrapping paper 50% off...now I don't need to buy paper for at least 10 years I am sure, but this roll called to me..it has birdies all over it, like some of my stamps...and it was in the colors of Rich Razzleberry, Kiwi Kiss, Riding Hood Red, Coral Cameo, Groovy Guava, Baja Breeze and Chocolate Chip...now that opens up an entire new line of tags for me to make...see how my mind thinks...honestly, that is the main reason I bought this paper....a small picture of it for you...go get some!!

Winter Warm Quilt Card~More Tags~Tag Making Day

A few things to share this morning......I saw this wonderful card on a blog (and cannot for the life of me find it to link to :<(       )~     using the Ohio Star quilt pattern, so gave it a try...I did some "quilting" stitches with my machine on my card, but after posting I saw I missed two spots of stitching.....so will have to fix that later.  I used all Stampin'Up! paper for this one to make a Christmas Quilt....thought the tiny holly print was just perfect.....I have another in the making using a non holiday paper.

Here are a few of the tags I did on my "tag making day" here at the cabin...I actually only got 3 done in about 6 1/2 hours....I was too busy helping.....it was a fun day...and only about 7 of us were here as a few were no shows or never replied at all...hmmm...maybe everyone is just too busy at this time of year......we used lots of products and ate lots of yummy food.....so a fun day was had by all...I have a few photo's and will post a few more later this week!

Peace On Earth~Angels Amongst Us

Do you have a Cricut??  If you do and you haven't bought the When Its Cold Outside cartridge yet...run to your nearest store and get it...it will be the best $18.99 you've treated yourself to in along time!  I was up until "wee" hours in the night cutting snowflakes...there are 3 different deer snowflakes, candy, ice skates, ski's,gingerbread, snowmen, these angels shown and more...PLUS there are 3D snowflakes...I did make a few of those, but its raining~dark and dreary~and my pics just did not turn out...in fact, this card...MUCH better IRL!!

I used SU Night of Navy for my contrast color and ink...the sentiment is from SU in the currant mini called "Four Seasons".....I have used this set over and over this year...love everything about it!  What you can't see is that  I "popped" up every angel on the navy background....and there are six of them...love it as it shows a nice navy border that way!  I did emboss with my new CB embossing folder I purchased from HSN...you received 2 folders that are only available on HSN and 6 total...what an enabler!  I used the Sizzix Large Scallop Circle die I purchased from SU under my angels...I LOVE this card...what do you think???
Whoops...sorry no tags today...I have to get my trees decorated!!

A "Cheater" Card & More Tags & "Soot"

I purchased some "Copics" from Ellen Hutson and when they arrived  she had this beautiful stamped image with a "thank you"!  I couldn't resist turning it into a card...all the real work was done!  She also included some pretty ribbon, I will be returning to her "shop" for sure!

I did 4 more very quick tags...I now have 45 finished...I want to do a few that are more elegant, but I have a tag making day at my home on Sunday....so only have time for "fast" ones now.....these are good for the "kiddies" as they just get tossed anyhow...ughhhh....its hard to see them "go"...LOL!

This is my cat "Soot" reading an old copy of Stampin Up...wonder what she is planning to order??  Soot was a drop off kitty about this time last year....she is now a spayed housecat.....we are up to 9 drops offs...well three are  "products" of drop off's.....5 are outside "barn" cats...I wish these people that drop off their unwanted pets would drop off food and litter......I keep looking onthe top of the barn the sign that says.."wanted~all your unwanted pets"!!!  Don't forget your pets this Christmas!!!

Dasher~Lovely As A Tree~Flourishes Timeless Tuesday~Clean and Simple

I wanted to use my "Dasher" stamp again as I love him so much!  I paired him with "Lovely As A Tree" using only "soft suede" ink...I stamped the tree image off on scrap paper twice for each background tree, then used a fully inked stamp for the front tree as well as Dasher!  I love the top note die and haven't used it much lately...time to get it back out!  A piece of SU designer paper Christmas Cocoa Specialty, a bit of real red ribbon and my card is done!  A perfect card for the Flourishes Timeless Tuesday challenge!

The tags are again made with the scraps....I am slowly gaining on my tags....see you tomorrow!