Beautiful Cards Received

Aren't these card BEAUTIFUL! They were done by my extremely talented cousin, Debbie. Check out her blog for more of her wonderful creations, http://debscreativeheart.blogspot.com/ .
She is soooo talented and I am so envious. Everything she makes looks so professional. She does it all: knits (and I'm sure she probably crochets too), calligraphy, stamping and combines that with graphics and or wording from her computer, and amateur photographer and I'm sure more that I don't even know about. She has more talent in her pinky than I do in my whole body. I tried knitting and crocheting and hated both. I do like to cross-stitch, but haven't done that in quite awhile. But even in my stamping - I don't have half the talent or creativity she does.

Here's to a Very Merry Christmas

Jacob returned home from Basic Training on the 20th and we all went out later that day to pick out our tree (he wanted to buy us a real one this year vs putting up the artificial one). Well, he and George picked out the tree and we got home and went to put it up and discovered it was a lot taller than we thought and wouldn't fit in front of the window where we normally put it, so we had to move some furniture around and put it in the middle of the room against one wall where the ceiling peaked to get it up and it barely fit there. We measured and the ceiling was 12ft. at that point and the tree ended up once in the stand to be about 11.5ft. Harold wouldn't agree to buy a larger stand for it and went and got 10 lb. bags of cat litter to put around the base to keep it from toppling over. Well, it made it thru Christmas, but this morning when they got up they discovered it had fallen over during the night (now keep in mind I did not go to bed until about 3:30am and it happened by the time Jacob was up around 8am), by the time I got up they had all the ornaments off of it (only one broke - one I got in an ornament exchange)... Oh yes, the cats DID NOT knock the tree down as they were shut-up in the basement for the night. So this is the earliest we have ever had our tree down, we usually don't take it down until some time in Jan. and have even been known to go into the 1st week of Feb. before taking it down. I figure once I put up all the decorations I want to enjoy them for a while. So I procrastinate on it, but this year I had no choice. We will definitely be getting a new tree stand (since this one cracked) for next year.





Well anyway, Santa paid us a visit and left some lovely gifts. The boys and I each got a new camera and are having fun taking pics of everything in sight. You know me - I usually have my camera in hand and if I don't, I have my cellphone and use the camera on it for lack of not having mine on me. The digital screen on my camera has a cracked effect going on on the display image, so I decided to ask Santa for a new one and to upgrade me and he very gratiously did. I now have a Sony DSLR-A200 and a 75mm-300mm lens to also put on it (however that one is on backorder). (Note: most of these pics are using my old camera as taken before I got the new one). The boys each got a Casio Exilim - Jacob a 10.1mp and George an 8.1 mp. Harold got the double volume books of Willie & Joe (Army cartoons from WWII) and was very happy with that and several other books he had on his list. So Santa was good to us all this year - Again!




I didn't decorate a lot this year, so only a few of my tons of junk were put out, so this was pretty much it for this year. Li'l Bit proclaimed Santa's lap as hers, Tigger and Angel had to settle for the floor or on a chair with us.


Oh yes, I had a Secret Santa this year that left a little something on my door Christmas morning and the boys discovered it for me. It was determined that my friend Mary was the sneaky culprit (it was a toss-up between her and Margarethe). Here is a picture of that surprise gift - isn't it cute! It is filled with fibers, star brads and eyelets in red and green and the little note on it says "In case of emergency - Break Glass!"

Welcome, Cole T. Russell

A special welcome to the newest member of the family, our great-nephew - Cole T. Russell. He was born Dec. 14th, 8 lbs. 1 oz., 20 inches. Isn't he adorable. Risa is doing well and I am sure Patrick is excited about now officially being a BIG Brother.

Open House items

Here are the items I made to sell at a recent Home Demo Open House at a friends house. I did pretty good this time and sold most of it. The pails on the end are filled with decorated peppermint patties and mini Hershey's candy and they are then put on lollipop sticks. some of the peppermint patties were sold individually on and off the stick. The Santa and Snowmen are wrapped around small Hershey's candy bars and Kit Kats. The rectangular tins are ones I got at Michaels and decorated and the round tins had an M (for M&M) on them and I covered the M and added ribbon and a tag. I also made some other gift card holders (above the Santa candy) and also decorated a pringles can and a clear paint can as gift containers and decorated a couple of gift bags. The jars I got at Ikea and decorated, added ribbon and a tag and filled with M&M's plain or peanut and Hershey's Kisses. What I had left over has been used as gifts and or door prizes for my Red Hat groups.

I found these pails with the fur at Target along with the others and just had to use them for my Red Hat group as gifts for the Queen Mother and Co-Queens of my Scarlet Sophisticates group and had to decorate in red and purple, of course. (Note: I had to keep them put up high as my cats kept wanting to steal them to play with the fur on them). The jars I gave to the girls that rode up to the Christmas party with me and gave one as a door prize. That function was on Sat. and we had a great time. My Busy Bee group had their party last Monday and I gave one of the pails that was left from the open house to use as one of our Christmas Bingo Door Prizes.

Jake's 1st Birthday

Here is the invitation I made for my niece, Roxie, for her son Jake's 1st birthday. We picked out the stamp set and later she went out shopping and found the napkin (below) and decorations to match. They were perfect. She also made his birthday cake and put a small dump truck on it. It was sooooo cute. I just did the front of the cards and decided to stamp all the images in the set multiple times and sent her the stamp/colored images and she added them to the inside with birthday party info.

I just had to share this picture of Jake eating his birthday cake - Dove right in didn't he...too cute!

Family Day at Ft. Benning

We got to go and visit Jacob in Ft. Benning this weekend for Family Day on Nov. 14th and then he was released to spend the weekend with us. Originally, everyone was going to march in wearing their Class B uniform (the one wearing the beret), but due to some rainy weather, only one platoon put on a performance drill for us. They had a competition the night before to determine which platoon would be able to do the honors and Jacob's platoon won, so we got to see him in action. I tried to download the video, but I guess it was just too long as it would not download...I left it for a very long time and it still did not finish downloading, so I will have to see what I can do later. At one point it looks like he messed up, but in actuality he did not, the next command was given before he finished the one before it, so he had to correct to keep from being run into, so he did the correct thing. We had a great time visiting him. He is doing well and really is enjoying himself. He also enjoyed being able to get some extra sleep over the weekend by staying with us at the hotel. We went and saw the new Bond movie and ate out whereever he wanted. I was also amazed to watch him eat, they definitely are not starving him and when I commented on how much he was eating at one sitting, he said he told everyone I would notice that he eats a lot more now. He has even gained a few pounds, although as you can see, he is still as skinny as a toothpick. Click on the pictures and you should get a larger viewing of them. The one of him in front of his bunk (his is the upper left one) is blurry, but I thought you'd like to see it. He has all the pictures and cards he has received on the inside door of his locker.

Halloween Cuties!

Jay-enstein - 10 mo.

Jake - 11 mo.

Patrick - 3-1/2 y.o.

I know it is after the fact, but I couldn't resist sharing pictures of my adorable great-nephews in their Halloween costumes. (gotten from their family blogs). Aren't they adorable! Now I wish I had sent Jay the Frankie card I'd made as a sample( Pictured at the top).

Christmas cards and treats

Here are the two card I am making for a Home Business Fair on Sat. at the Fredericksburg Masonic Lodge (Virginia). I am putting 5 of each in a plastic card holder w/envelopes and selling them. I plan to make a few other small items to sell. The top one is using Scandinavian Season set in red and gold (inspired by Lee Conrey); the middle one is using an embossing folder from Cuttlebug and SU stamp from Curly Label Punch Bundle set and Night of Navy CS; the bottom one is "Home for Christmas" with white and Glorious Green. It is colored in with pastels (exception is red on garland is real red marker). I also made this at the Sr. Center last month (only one layer on top card then).

The mini Hersheys with snowman and Santa wraps were inspired by the tutorial for the Santa on on Dawn Griffith's website http://dawnsstampingthoughts.typepad.com/dawns_stampin_studio/2008/09/santa-candy-bar-wrapper.html

So easy to make and absolutely adorable. (Note: I couldn't find my white gel pen, so the eyes are not highlighted in pic - did so later)

Happy Halloween!

Here is a card that I made and sent to Jacob and a couple of friends. The picture stamps are SU, top is retired set "Home is Where the Haunt is"; the bottom is the a new wheel, Haunting and the words are non-SU and are from Art Gone Wild...the inside reads "on Halloween night" All four word groups are on a single wooden block. Used So Saffron, Green Galore, YoYo Yellow and Basic Black card stock.

Jacob Army Swearing In/Oath

Sorry to be so late getting this posted...Jacob took his final oath for the Army - given by his dad - on Sept. 18th. Following that he had to eat a quick lunch that they provided for all the new recruits there in the eating area at MEPS and then after a briefing they quickly loaded them into a van to take them to the airport to catch their planes for wherever they were headed. Jacob and several others got in the van for Ft. Bennings. They did this all so quickly I didn't even get to get a picture of him getting into the van. So we didn't really get to spend anytime with him other than the few minutes it took to take his oath. We had hoped to have time to take him to lunch, but no such luck. I started missing him immediately. He has called twice and we have received 3 short letters since he left...His call today was a short pre-written message saying he has started his training is doing well and has his address and will be mailing a letter with it. As soon as we get it I will get it out to the family. Below is some video taken of the oath ceremony. The first is Harold giving a short speech and history of family military and the second one is of the oath...I missed the start of both trying to take the still photos and switching over...Harold kept getting started to fast for me.

Since his departure, I had a 2-day crop (scrapbooking) function on the 19th & 20th. On the 20th I also set up a Stampin' Up! table at the Habitat for Humanity Harvest festival from 10-5pm and stamped tattoos on the kids, my downline - Gabby, had a simple card for people to stamp if so desired. It was pretty slow as there were lots of things going on that weekend, but it was nice...I turned into a lobster again. My friend Maragarethe went with us as well. I took her home afterwards and headed back to the crop. By the time I got home I was sniffly and achy and obviously coming down with the cold that Harold had started up with on Fri. I have been down all week with it. Still have the cough. Harold is over it completely.

Halloween Explosion Box

Here is the Halloween Explosion box Margarethe started yesterday as promised. I love her topper for it - very creative. I think I will have to get the paper to make one like this one as well. Love it.

Explosion Box

Today Margarethe and I went to an Explosion Box class held at the Handcraft House in Madison. We got to choose our paper (the instructor had chosen a few combos for us to choose from or we could get our own combo). I choose one she had put together as I decided it would be perfect for my other niece, Risa , who is pregnant with her second baby (she is having a boy again) and Margarethe picked out her own combo (which I am going to semi-copy for my niece Roxie (Risa's twin sister) who is now a stay-at-home mom and is giving piano lessons and just recently had a recital for her students...I thought the music decorated paper would be perfect for her to put together a little memento for herself of the event (it is the open purple and green one and the one on the left of the three boxes, the other two are the instructors samples. All very pretty. When we got home Margarethe immediately started making a Halloween decorated one that she had gotten paper for. She didn't get it finished before we left to meet Mary, Melody and Gayle for dinner, so I was unable to get a picture of it. I'm sure she will have it done by the time I see her tomorrow, so I will get some of it then. I was really nice. I plan to make more in the near future as I really liked these and they are soooo easy to make once you have done one. The baby one I made is Daisy Design paper and the one she made is BoBunny Paper. Will definitely have to make one with some Stampin' Up! paper to have as a sample. Can't wait to see one with photos attached to the interior flaps and maybe a few embellishments added to them.

My "Mamma Mia" Movie Review

Sunday afternoon my friends, Margarethe and Melodye, and I went to see the movie "Mamma Mia". IT WAS FABULOUS!!!!! It kept us laughing and tapping our toes and wanting to get up and dance from start to finish. Needless to say, I am now going to have to go with my Red Hat group to a sing-along showing up near Dale City on Thursday. I originally wasn't going to go, but I have to now. Can't wait - it should be a blast!

After the movie we went out to dinner and our friend Mary (who is the one that originally set up this movie adventure and then cancelled hours before). I think we have convinced her she will have to go see it....so who knows we may all go again with her. We ran into several groups of ladies at the movie, who advised us they were there for the 3rd or 4th time. This is definitely one I will have to buy when it comes out on DVD.

To top it off I found out the day before, (when I asked if he wanted to join us) that my husband had seen it while I was in TX on his birthday. He went by himself to see it, but hadn't told me as he didn't want to ruin it for me if we went. I could just smack him. He tried to act like he didn't know I wanted to go, but I know we talked about going when it was only being advertised and we both said we wanted to see it. There are so few that I actually care to go see. He is the movie goer not me and he and Jacob go to see all the ones I don't want to see (all those action packed ones and war movies). Oh well, maybe he will want to go again, if we go for Mary.

Monogram Cards in Multiple Colors

Well, only Margarethe was able to make it for my Monogrammed card class, but she brought some of her own card projects to work on. She was making some for a friend using some seashell stamps she had...I failed to get pictures of them as I had planned too as they were very pretty. However, I did take a picture of two cards she made that she gave me, the one with the merkitty on it and the one using the "A Light Unto My Path" stamp set - you can't tell but it was stamped in Brilliant Blue craft ink and then embossed over with Irridescent Ice.

I made Monogrammed cards to send to my mother and my Aunt Julia (her sister) and some more for me. They wanted theirs with their first name initials (Julia and Elizabeth). I also did them in their favorite colors. I did a few with their last name as both just happened to started with "P" and I did more for myself with "F".

The "J"s were done in Real Red, Purely Pomegranate and YoYo Yellow. The "E"s were done in Certainly Celery and Kiwi Kiss, but only had Old Olive ribbon to use on them both, they still came out nice. "The "P"s and one "F" were done in Night of Navy. I also did some "F"s in Brocade Blue and Lavendar Lace.

I had also done the Monogrammed cards at the Sr. Ctr. on Fri. and they did them in So Saffron, Pink Piroquette and Lavendar Lace. A few of the ladies combined the Lavendar Lace and Pink Piroquette for some very pretty cards and one that did not want monogrammed cards used the circle "Happy Birthday" Stamp from the "Wow Flowers" stamp set on hers. They had a lot of fun. I need to remember to take my camera next time and get pictures of the different cards and color combos they do as they are a very creative group of ladies. (Even though they don't think so)

Jacob takes his 1st Army Oath

As most of you have heard by now, my youngest son, Jacob, is enlisting into the Army. He took his first oath on Aug. 23rd (2 days after I returned from my trip and all of this was decided on while I was away). I am very proud of him, but I am still having to get use to the whole idea. We had hoped he would take a year off from school and work and then go to college in an ROTC program to earn a commission and then go in and he was originally talking about going into the Navy and now all that has changed. He wants to go into Infantry Airborne Rangers. He leaves on Sept. 18th for Basic Training which starts on Sept. 26th in Ft. Benning, GA, then Airborne School there after that and then if he qualifies he goes to Ranger School and then if he qualifies he would like to go into Special Forces. Above are pictures of him taking his first oath (His dad was able to administer the oath since he was a Naval Officer, so that made it special)

My Trip to Marco Island, FL and Ft. Worth, TX

Well, I am back from my trip to Marco Island, FL. Harold and I had a great time. It is beautiful there and the weather was wonderful. We went on a Sailing & Shelling tour on a 6-pass catamaran our last day there. We saw dolphins, 1 sea turtle (I missed him but Harold got a quick glimpse of it) and pelicans, egrets, and of course seagulls. I took pictures of different birds on the beach, one with a beautiful large orange and black beak. I have been advised by my bird-watching nephew-in-law that the orange and black beaked ones are Black Skimmers and the other bird picture are sandpipers (I knew that, but still not sure what variety). I had also gotten pics of Laughing Gulls, Royal Terns, Brown Pelicans and a White Egret. All very pretty.

On my return trip I went thru Ft. Worth, TX and spent a few days visiting family. My folks are doing okay, but not as well as I wish they were. I got to go and visit my brother-n-law and his wife and daughter, Lindsey and my new little nephew, Jay Jay. He is absolutely adorable, he is now about 7 1/2 mos. old.

I also got to go see my first pro-baseball game with my sister, Melanie and her son, Brandon and a neighbor of theirs. We saw the TX Rangers vs Detroit Tigers game. Rangers won 9 to 1 - YEAH!!!