Merry Christmas

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Here are my notes from tonights' Christmas Eve sermon, "The Often Overlooked Gift":

Why did Mary go with Joseph? 9 months pregnant and riding on a donkey? Joseph had to go. Back then an Inn was really a campground with a surrounding wall. In the center was likely a well and those who had any money probably had a tent. Not the most private place to deliver a baby. The stable was a cave - much better and more private. God always proides what we need when we need it. These are gifts of Gods' grace. God is present in our lives all the time. He is as near as the air we breathe. Whether we believe or are aware of it or not. Gods' grace is there. Let's try to be aware of His gift in our daily lives.

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I finally finished!

WOOHOO!!! I finally got this years' Christmas cards done and mailed out! I did manage to get a couple pictures before they left on their journey.

As soon as I saw the Cardinal Christmas stamp I knew I had to have it. I don't think I ever coveted ANYTHING that much in my life! LOL!!! I just love cardinals.

The cards for this year are very simple flat cards. I was able to mail them with one stamp [each]. Hope you like them!

Crazy Weather!!!

When I say crazy weather I mean uber crazy! Here in south Texas we don't get much snow - hard ever in fact. But yesterday's temps were all over the place! We had a high of 85F in the afternoon. A northern wind came in around 3 pm and by 9:30 last night we were getting rain, sleet, and snow! See - I told ya! CRAZY!!!

There's a wonderful flower farm about 45 minutes north of here in Wimberley, TX. It's the Arnosky Family Farm. It's a fresh cut flower farm which provides flowers for several grocery stores in San Antonio, Austin, and Houston. They sent out an e-mail this morning with a picture from their farm. PROOF!

It's not a lot and it won't stay very long - but it's PROOF!

Today it's supposed to get up to 55 but be windy. So I'm staying in doing laundry, got a pot roast in the slow cooker - it smells so yummy in here already - and FINALLY starting on my Christmas cards. Normally I've got those in the mail by December 1st, really slacking this year!

Many Thanks

These cards were for the kind friends who brought casseroles to us after DH's back surgery 2 weeks ago. For whatever reason I just kept forgetting to post them on here -- but they've been mailed and delivered already, and that's the most important thing. I'll try to come back and edit with a recipe for each card.

Sympathy Kiss

Today's card is for CC189 (Pink Chocolate Kissed) at SCS. Unfortunately I needed to make a sympathy card today. My daughter's gymnastics coach's Grandmother passed away yesterday. She had recently been moved into hospice care and has said that she's "ready to go home". The card base is SU Vanilla cardstock.

I cut out the ovals with my Creative Memories cutting system and stamped the Pink Pirouette layer with the Victorian Diamond backgrounder from Cornish Heritage Farms.

The sentiment is Flourishes' Flourished Words stamp set. I stamped it on Vanilla cardstock, cut out with the Scallop Circle Punch, then sponged it with Dark Chocolate and Pink Pirouette.

How it went...

Here's a link to the GAC website. There is a video showing how it all went down!

Paisley Party Pranks in Jewel's words

Here's what Jewel had to say about the pranks Saturday night.

What fun!

We ended up getting tickets to the Brad Paisley, Chuck Wicks, Jewel concert last night. Not only did we get tickets, we also got a "Meet & Greet" with Jewel. While we waited to meet her, they treated us to a wine and cheese bar. SO COOL!!!

It was the final night of the tour so the pranks were in high gear! Chuck Wicks was tarred and feather by the crew - he kept singing throughout the whole thing! Then during his "Cinderella" song they put pictures of him in the Cinderella dress all over the screen, and then they played a video of his girlfriend, Julianne Hough telling him how she wanted to break up with him! Too funny!

For Jewel there was a rather large man wearing a flesh colored latex suit lowered down in a harness. Later he was seen dancning with the band.

Everyone sounded amazing and we all really enjoyed the show. Here are some highlights!

Brad had a disturbance from Borat.

A Few of Her Favorite Things!

Hello! Today's card is for SC198 at Splitcoast. I was able to do a birthday card for my Mom. Her birthday is on the 20th. Mom loves birds, buttons, flowers, sewing, and the color red so I was able to incorporate a bit of all these into this card.

I first stamped the bird from the "Always" set in Riding Hood Red, then in Versamark so I could heat emboss with clear embossing powder. The Dahlia is done in a sheet of double sided patterned paper from the Urban Garden pack. I used buttons and red firs brads to secure the card's matchbox flap. I also used it in the center of the dahlia. The ribbon, with it's double-stitching, is used to represent all the sewing she used to do.

So, what do you think?

A Simple Thank You

Today's card is for the Color Challenge at Splitcoast. It was to use Chocolate Chip, Tangerine Tango, and Kiwi Kiss. I have chocolate chip, but Papertrey Ink's Dark Chocolate was handy so I used it instead. Besides, I like dark chocolate better anyway! :)



CC187 ingredients: Cardstock: Tangerine Tango, Kiwi Kiss, PTI Dark Chocolate; Ink: PTI Dark Chocolate, Versamark; Accessories: clear embossing powder, Fairy Tale Ribbon, square scallop punch

Look What We Did!

WOOHOO! How exciting! SheetLoad Shortcuts featured mine and another card on their blog Saturday! You can find the post here. Be sure to order their clear and/or frosted card fronts while you're there! You will NOT be disappointed!!!

2 New Cards!

Well it's been a while, but I'm finally getting back into stamping. I have to say I'm really inspired by this new clear cardstock from Shortcuts. I made a birthday card for my DD's teacher using the Cakeabella stamp from Stamping Bella.




The other card I have for you is the one I made for my step-dad's 75th Birthday! I used the "U R A Hoot" stamp set by Kim Hughes which can be found at Cornish Heritage Farms. The paper is from Papertrey Ink.

New Season and a Card!

No, I'm not talking about Fall. Even though I'm thrilled it's here! Last Saturday, we officially "kicked off" **LOL! get it?!?** the new soccer season. Friday night, coach Pete and his wife decided to have the team and their families over for a potluck. Everyone had a great time and it was nice to be able to just socialize and not worry about drills.

The girls got new pink jerseys this year so I decided to use Stampin Ups new Pink Pirouette cardstock, along with Baja Breeze, on my thank you card to them. I also used a very cool new product from Sheetload Shortcuts. They have clear and frosted cardstock! The best part is it's "fingerprint-resistant"! So cool - and very sturdy!

Stamps used: Office Accoutrements, I Love Soccer (SU! Retired)Here are a couple pics of Sarah in her cool pink jersey!

Daily Thought from RealSimple.com

September 11, 2008
Kind words do not cost much. Yet they accomplish much.
— Blaise Pascal

Blog Candy Alert!

I'm not sure if you've seen the wonderful previews over at SheetLoad ShortCuts, but they are FABULOUS!!! I can not wait to order these on the 15th! They're offering a win before you can buy it Sampler Pack! Check it out now!

It's flattery right?

I've often heard that imitiation is a form of flattery. Well when I saw this card on Kristina Werner's blog, I just knew I had to make it for a baby shower I went to over the weekend. How cute is that? And, she enabled me even further by including a template for the layers!

I didn't have and couldn't find the same stamp set, but I think I'm pretty close with this one from STAMPENDOUS! The cardstock I used is Pink Pirouette and Chocolate Chip. Ink was Purely Pomegranate, Black Stazon, and I colored the onesies with my Copics and watercolor brush.

Hope you like it!

Wynton Marsalis Playing Happy Birthday

My BIL, Marc, just sent this to me for my Birthday today! Isn't he sweet!

Sad news

Unfortunately, we were unable to keep Speedy. We found out he had heartworm. Probably because his previous owners never had him checked! Can you believe that?!? I'm more angry than anything else. I did notice that he didn't have a lot of energy, slept a lot, and this morning he was coughing a LOT. That's not a good sign. Unfortunately there are too many risks associated with treatment, and no guaratees it'll work, for us to spend $800-1000, so we left it up to his previous owner to do the right thing. It's their mess, they needed to deal with it. Poor little guy.

Please have your pets checked and give them the appropriate preventative!!!

Our New Addition

After about 12 years, we FINALLY have a new dog! I found him online and he was only 5 minutes away. His family can't keep him anymore since they're going overseas with the Navy. There will be an adjustment for all of us. His old family got him at the pound as a puppy and he's now 4 1/4 years old. He's very sweet and mellow, crate trained, and obeys basic sit/stay commands.

Speedy, our new Rat Terrier:

Slide Show is up!

Here it is folks! Get your popcorn ready!

Bad Blogger!

Yep, that's me! I've been a bad blogger! Between all the end of year school activities and the girls being out for the summer, I've been completely ignoring my blog! But, just to prove I have been making a card here and there, I've decided to put together a slide show! That is, if photobucket can get it downloaded. I just checked on it and there was an "error"! Yikes! Better go see what I can do. I'll post it later I guess!

hmmm...

Well it's not that I haven't made any cards lately, it's just that I've been making quick last minute cards and didn't really have time to take a quick picture! Now that the kids are out of school for the summer, I'm hoping to get some scrapbooking done. They'll be able to help me out with that! I don't even remember the last time I scrapbooked!

Boston Gets New Lead Singer (Tommy Decarlo)

Dreams do come true!

A Breezy Mother's Day

I've been in such a stamping rut lately. I was thrilled when I saw today's Limited Supplies Challenge at Splitcoast. We were to make something WITHOUT using stamps. I decided to channel Kristina Werner and make a Mother's Day card for my MIL. I tried stamping one yesterday but fell flat. Hope she likes it!

POST EDIT: if the link to Kristina's blog doesn't work, try this www.kwernerdesign.com
All supplies are Stampin Up! unless stated otherwise.
For this one I used Bali Breeze DSP, Purely Pomegranate Satin Ribbon, Making Memories Ready-to-Glitter Stickers "alpha large", green chunky glitter, Marvy LePlume black pen, rich regal brad, & Fusion Frenzy felt flowers.

Technology - can't live with it, can't live without it!

Sooooo it seems I wasn't the only one who had trouble getting onto Splitcoast last week. For what ever reason things were on the fritz over there. I tried to Upload this card to the gallery but it didn't work. Anywho...

This card was made for my BFF, Liz, who turned 40 last week. I was completely inspired by Faith with all the dots! Make sure you check out her awesome blog!


I used SU's Living Large stamp set, stamped the main image with Stazon & colored it in with SU markers. The ribbon is from Basic Grey - purchased at Flourishes - you will absolutely LOVE the way they package your order!

American Idol David Cook 4/22/08

OH MY WOW!

Hoot and Holler You're a Scholar!

This is for the New Technique challenge at Splitcoast. It's a gift card holder - and probably the easiest I've ever made! I'll be making another just like it, since I have 2 nephews graduating HS next month - Nick & Bryan!

RECIPE:
Stamp: U R A Hoot - Cornish Heritage Farms
Paper: Blue Bayou, Soft Sky
Ink: black stazon, timber brown stazon, soft sky, creamy caramel, close to cocoa, chocolate chip, pumpkin pie
Accessories: Offray brown microcheck

Witte Museum Field Trip

I chaperoned Sarah's class field trip to the Witte Museum. They had 2 presentations, one on Matter & another on animals. We also had an hour in-between to explore on our own.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the cutest kitten in the world...

WARNING: viewing of the images in the above link may cause uncontrollable squealing.
Please brush your teeth after viewing, cuz it's sooooo dang sweet!

Sometimes you just Need It!

Hello all! Today's card is for 2 challenges, the Sketch Challenge at Splitcoast & Kristina's Color Inspiration. I can't believe I never used this set from Hanna Stamps! It's one I just had to have, too! Today Hanna's been shopping for her new spring wardrobe!



RECIPE:
Stamps: Hanna Stamps "But I Need It"
Paper: Certainly Celery, So Saffron, Bashful Blue, Close to Cocoa
Ink: SU markers in same colors as the paper, Timber Brown Stazon
Accessories: Bold Bright brads, Die Cut Blooms, SU Ticket Corner Punch

Wish I could erase this chalkboard...

Well I tried. This is for the Chalkboard Technique at Splitcoast Stampers. My chalk is too smudged and doesn't seem bright enough. I guess I need more practice!

RECIPE:All supplies from Stampin Up!
Stamps: Essence of Love
Paper: Pixie Pink, Green Galore, Lovely Lilac
Ink: White Stazon, Pixie Pink, SU Pastels
Accessories: Rose grosgrain

Givin' a Flip or 2!

We had a pretty busy weekend. One thing was when Dana's gymnastics team performed at Windfest on Saturday. It was a very pretty day.




And Sarah got to hop around too!



By the way, that little bird has flown away. Yeah!