My Favorite Things MFTWSC52

For the first time in a long time, I can finally take part in My Favorite Things Wednesday Sketch Challenge. I got a couple of their stamps for Christmas and I made this sweet card. I love this stamp Pure Innocence-Heart Stripes. I enjoyed doing this sketch.

Christmas was wonderful this year. Christmas morning the little boys came in with their parents and we had a great time.

I got lots of goodies, a new calendar for next year of the little boys that their mommy made, some bling, some card and envelope sets, 4 table runners done by my sister Julie, and a beautiful wool coat from my nephew Josh and his wife Kristen!!

Now, I get to put all the tax stuff together and do the end of the year reports for the accountant and the government, but I will be stamping in between for my sanity. I am enjoying making cards and playing with paper again!! Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!!

There was a small celebration of sorts last night in our house! The baby's stocking was finally done. I had lost the cute buttons, got some other ones and then found the cute ones, so they got put on the boys' stockings! Some history of these huge stockings - When my nephew Jason was about 10, my mom made him this huge stocking. He lived with my parents and was spoiled (by me too, as I was 12 years older than him). When he got married, my mom made his wife Kristy one too, the same size! When Landon came along, she made him one! My mom passed in 2005, so when Calvin was born in 2007, they asked me to make him one, my sister sewed the stocking and I did all the snowman work. This year, I realized around the first of October, I needed to make a new one for Lincoln, so my sister sewed the stocking and I finished it last night.

Each year the little boys get a new special button or pin or embellishment that signifies something in the past year. This year Landon got a baby in a buggy and Calvin got a baby in a bathtub for Lincoln being born. When Landon started kindergarten, he got a schoolhouse. Landon's is on the left and Calvin's on the right.

Clearly Inspired Challenge

On Friday, Clearly I Stamp the blog for Clear Dollar Stamps posted a challenge for birthday cards. I needed to make a few anyway so I got out the Birthday Celebration set and some shimmery blue paper and my nestabilities, my cuttlebug and this is what I came up with! I hope you like it.

I finally got all the business cards done, written in and addressed so all those will go in the mail tomorrow along with my personal Christmas cards with the girls' Senior pictures.

Spent all week trying to get these cards done and have finally done it! Now all I need to do is address them and get them in the mail. Today we went and got our tree. We went to Manthey's in Ferndale where we have gone for 17 years! This year neither of the girls would help cut down the tree, so Keith did it. We were lucky to have Lincoln the 6 month old nephew with us, so he got to 'push' the tree over after it was cut!! It was a fun day!!

Birthday cards for the 21 year olds!!!

My niece and her husband turned 21 on Saturday and last Wednesday so of course I made them cards.

Her's is this pinkish one in the front and his is the blue one in the background, I forgot to take an individual picture of his.

Best Day Ever and working to get things done

I had an awesome day today, had my two nephews, Calvin aka Trip aka the 4 yr old and his baby brother, Lincoln, who is almost 6 months old. I haven't had Lincoln much since my surgery because I couldn't lift over 15 pounds. It was so much fun, Lincoln was perfect and happy all day. I think he has been missing his NeeNee!!! While we watched cartoons and Lincoln slept, I worked on his Christmas stocking and tonight I have worked on more cards.

A Christmas card challenge

I was so lucky to be able to borrow stamps from Katie Renz since we lived so close, so I was over there looking for stamps to make the business Christmas cards and I found this one, yep, I have showed it in a post last week, but this is one that I did, just in greens. Clear Dollar Stamps is having a challenge for Christmas cards on their blog, so I decided to show it off there. I just love it! I used Poinsettia Joy with CTMH Leaf Green paper and felt pen and the green ribbon from Michaels.

Girlfriends!!!!

At Moxie Fab World, they had a challenge called The Celebrating Relationships Challenge so I took some time tonight and made a card celebrating Girlfriends. I used an old D.O.T.S. (now Close To My Heart) stamp that I got back in 1995 or 1996, added the girlfriend circle stamp from Scrappy Cat Girly Girl clear stamps, and Echo Park Paper's Be Mine paper and some white ribbon I had saved.

Lots of coloring going on!!

Working hard on the Christmas cards. I just couldn't get my felt pens to work, so I ran to a local stamp store and got 6 new colors - Now I have a mixture of Close To My Heart pens, Tombows and the cheap kids feltpens!! Had a good day today hanging with the husband and he drove me to the stamp store too!!

Beginning the Christmas cards and the stocking!

This is the beginning of the Christmas cards - and the beginning of the making of Lincoln's stocking. My sister the sewing queen made the red stocking and now I will be appliqueing the snowman like the other two boys' onto Lincoln's and then adding their "ornament" for this year. Calvin picked out who gets what this year!

Venturing to craft stores on my own. . . . .

I figured out the Christmas cards for our business, I am going to use the stamp Poinsettia Joy from Clear Dollar Stamps that Lori (Thank you Lori!) had sent to Katie Renz but she didn't get a chance to use them, so wonderful Kevin let me borrow them and ink them. I am sure that Katie was guiding me.

So, I ventured out to Joann's and Michael's by myself today! It was hard, because to be honest, that was something that Katie and I used to do, usually about 7 pm, one of us would call and say, let's go!! We haven't done it for a while since the cancer got in our way, and now we won't get to do it again! But, I knew she was there because I stood at the punches for a long time and we used to do that every time!! LOL I mean we even went on Thanksgiving night one year!!!!! (don't remember if it was last year or the year before!!!} I took my colors and my list and I found what I needed. I also found some shimmery floss for the snowman for Lincoln's stocking and each year I put something special on each boys stocking and I found those too!! Wish I had started that for my girls, their stockings are plain!! So, here is my stash, you also will see the new black stamp pad and the CTMH stamp pad that I borrowed from Katie's last week. Even with my bestie not here physically, I know she is guiding me from above!

I miss you Stamp Katie!!!

Christmas Cards and Missing Somebody.

These are some of the Christmas cards I have been doing the last few days. The stamps are from Clear Dollar Stamps and were unstamped before the other day. When I went to Katie Renz's twin boys' birthday party, Kevin and I ventured down to her craft room so I could borrow a black stamp pad, since mine has taken a vacation. Katie had these in her new release to do basket and so I borrowed two sets. I am really missing her, she was my best friend, there was no drama, no nothing, just honest friendship and love! I don't know if there will ever be a friend like her again in my life.

Where oh where has the time gone!!

Ok, wow, over a year has gone by and things have so changed in my life, my best friend Katie has fought cancer and lost, my girls are now Seniors in high school and I have a new baby nephew that has been added to the daycare. I had surgery in October and am slowly getting my act together. I have started doing cards again and I have missed it! So, I am going to be getting back in the swing of things, I have only bought one stamp this year and have not used it yet!! I have made some Thank you cards so I thought I would share those today.