Deer Friends Again!

 

This was a really quick picture of the teacher’s presents and goodies I took to my son’s Christmas party at school. I put the gingerbread house in the picture for effect but then I realized I forgot to take the ugly cutting board out from under it. Sorry! The gingerbread house itself was pretty sad. I had a close up picture of it and saw just how sad it was. I found out you CANNOT leave the icing out for very long before you start decorating and expect it to act properly. It started oozing down the sides of the doors and windows. I tried to thicken it up but it just didn’t seem to want to cooperate. When I put the house together it was just fine but then they tell you to wait before decorating it. They forgot to tell me not to mix ALL of the icing at once (or I didn’t read the directions).

The wrapping paper was retired Stampin’ Up! paper from last year. I’m so glad I had it. I had those presents wrapped in no time. Luckily, because I had no time. But what I was most excited about was the candy coated pretzel sticks. I had never made them before but it went pretty smoothly AFTER I figured out what was too warm and too cool with the candy. After I wrapped up the pretzels, I attached a cute little tag to the tie. The supplies for the tags are listed below.

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas! Thanks for stopping by!

 

Stamp Set: Deer Friends

Inks: Close To Cocoa Classic Ink

Papers: Real Red, Glorious Green, Whisper White and Chocolate Chip card stock

Accessories: Scallop Circle punch, 1 3/8" Circle punch and 1 1/4" Circle punch, kite string

December 27, 2008 | Filed Under Announcements | Leave a Comment 

Snail Mail

 If you read my last post you know I mailed my Christmas cards yesterday. Ok so I really didn’t do it my husband did. But thats beside the point. He mailed them about 3 pm or so at our local United States Post Office. Well today we went to his cousin’s house which is in a neighboring city. It takes about 20 or 25 minutes to get there. We are sitting in their living room and I’m checking out the Christmas tree. It has all of these cute cards on it. And then I see the one I made and mailed YESTERDAY. So then I’m thinking that maybe that’s one I made last year because I think I’m losing my mind it couldn’t possibly be the one I just mailed. So I ask her when she got it. She said it just came in the mail earlier today. Can you believe it? I’m not sure why they call it snail mail. It’s almost faster than my Internet. I hope everybody’s cards get to their destinations as fast as mine.

I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!

Thanks for stopping by.

December 23, 2008 | Filed Under Announcements, Christmas, Personal | Leave a Comment 

My Christmas Cards

I found the battery charger…charged the battery…mailed the Christmas cards…took the pictures…and now I am sitting in front of the fireplace enjoying the fire and the quiet. It’s so quiet, I think something might be wrong. No, my son is a sleep and my husband is at work. It’s just quiet. Been a very long time. Hmmm. The phone is ringing. Just a minute….my husband….WHAT? WHEN?…your kidding? Right? No. OK. Sorry about that. That was my husband telling me all this leisurely time I thought I had for the next couple of days doesn’t exist. I thought all I had to do until Christmas Day was cook a couple of side dishes and make a couple of desserts. Just relax and enjoy because as you know I finished my Christmas cards. BUT NO, he just knocked a day off of my time line. I have to do everything tomorrow. I knew it was just too quiet. Too good to be true. You know they say if it sounds too good to be true, it is.

The stocking card is the Christmas card I sent to all of my friends and family.

This card and the last one are ones we made at my last workshop.

The Let It Snow card is cased from the Stampin’ Up! Fall-Winter Catalog 2008 page 40.

I hope you like the cards. Thanks for stopping by.

See below for all of the supplies needed to make all three cards.

 

Stocking Card Supplies

Stamp Sets: Snow Flurries (ret)

Inks: Chocolate Chip, Riding Hood Red and Encore Gold Ink

Papers: Confetti Cream, Very Vanilla, Riding Hood Red, Spring Flowers DSP (ret)

Accessories: 5/8" Chocolate Chip Grosgrain ribbon, Gold cord, snowflake punch (ret), 1/2" circle punch, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Big Shot Die Cut machine, Sizzix Snowflake embossing folder, Sizzix Christmas Ornament, Stocking & Light, sponges

 

Snowflake Card Supplies

Stamp Sets: Best Yet (Hostess Set)

Inks: Chocolate Chip Classic Ink

Papers: Chocolate Chip, In Color Soft Sky (ret), Whisper White, Wintergreen DSP (ret)

Accessories: 5/8" Chocolate Chip Grosgrain ribbon, silver brads, Wide Oval punch, Large Oval punch, Big Shot Die Cut machine, Snowflakes Set #2 die cut

 

Let It Snow Card Supplies

Stamp Sets: Big on Christmas

Inks: Basic Black Classic Ink

Papers: Real Red, Bashful Blue, Whisper White and Bashful Blue DSP (ret hostess pack)

Accessories: Water Color Pencils, Blender Pens, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Silver brads, Real Red 1/4" Grosgrain ribbon

 

December 23, 2008 | Filed Under 08 Fall-Winter Catalog, Announcements, Christmas, Holiday Mini 08-09, In Color | 1 Comment 

Traditions Around The World

 

During the month of December, we have an event at our Kindergarten Center called Traditions Around the World. It teaches the children about some of the different Christmas traditions throughout the world. It is only in it’s 2nd year but it is going to be a yearly thing. Each group has a different country. They tell about the traditions and have a trinket and a food from the country. There is a big airplane on one of the walls at the school. The children pretend to ride the airplane and each child has a passport that gets stamped. The children love it. Our country was Holland last year and this year. Next year we will actually be in Kindergarten so we will have another country. But Holland holds a special place for our class. When we first came to the Kindergarten Center, our teacher gave us a poem about Holland. And to this day, if I hear the name Holland, it brings a wave of emotion over me.

If you are wondering why I always say we when I talk about my son’s school it’s because I think I have learned as much from his teacher as he has. She’s my teaching angel.

Anyway back to Holland, last year I was the room mom and I made the little Dutch children in the picture and my husband and I made the windmill. This year one of the teachers made the beautiful background. We made Spice Cookies and Dutch Meatballs and I wore a white hat and really big yellow wooden shoes. They weren’t really wood. They were made of foam. Quit laughing. I had to wear them all day, too. Luckily, I don’t have any pictures of that.

Now about all of the Christmas stuff I’ve been doing. I finished my Christmas cards last night. That’s really sad, isn’t it. And I can’t even mail them until tomorrow. And now my camera battery is dead so I can’t take any pictures. Pitiful. I wonder if anyone will get my Christmas cards before Christmas?  Alright, I’m going to go look for the battery charger right now and I’m gonna get those pictures. So check back soon. I will have them posted before Christmas!

If you have an extra minute, I’ve posted the poem about Holland below.

 

WELCOME TO HOLLAND

by
Emily Perl Kingsley.

c1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley. All rights reserved

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability – to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It’s like this……

When you’re going to have a baby, it’s like planning a fabulous vacation trip – to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It’s all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."

"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I’m supposed to be in Italy. All my life I’ve dreamed of going to Italy."

But there’s been a change in the flight plan. They’ve landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven’t taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It’s just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It’s just a different place. It’s slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you’ve been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around…. and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills….and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy… and they’re all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that’s where I was supposed to go. That’s what I had planned."

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away… because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.

But… if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn’t get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things … about Holland.

 

December 21, 2008 | Filed Under Announcements, Christmas, Personal | Leave a Comment 

This Was Supposed To Be …

 This was supposed to be a picture of a Christmas tree ornament I made with my Big Shot Die Cut Machine but my husband downloaded my pictures on to his computer so I have to go find them. So instead I’ll show you a picture of something I think may be a bit more exciting right now! It’s snowing in Texas!!!!!

This is a picture of my front yard.

This is a picture of my house.

This is a picture of the pond in my front yard.

And this is a picture of the playhouse in the back yard.

Can you tell I’m excited? Well we were all excited. Even my husband and I don’t think he gets excited about much. We let the kids play outside past their bedtime and they were running around with the neighbor kids having a grand ole time. We saw a little snow in 2004 but the last time I saw snow like this I was about 10 years old. My youngest was really excited but wasn’t willing to stay out long. He kept saying "Momma it’s coldy out here and it’s warmy in the house". I had him wrapped up in my robe because he had his pajamas on but we couldn’t convince him to stay out.

One of the best parts of all this is that it was a surprise.

As soon as I get the picture of the Christmas tree ornament, I’ll post it along with a really pretty Christmas card I made the other day.

Thanks for stopping by. If your getting snow I hope your enjoying it as much as we are. Remember its the little things.

 

December 10, 2008 | Filed Under Announcements, Personal | Leave a Comment 

Deer Friends

 

This card was so easy but I think it turned out great. It was one of the cards from my last home workshop. All of the ladies just loved it.

And I can’t say it enough, I love my Big Shot Die Cut machine. Whether you are cutting or embossing, it is amazing. Anyway, back to the card.

I got the inspiration for this card from Nancy Riley. You can see her card at  stampinat6213.blogspot.com/2008/11/scs-featured-stamper-challenge-fs92.html 

The photo I took does not do it justice. It was really cloudy here today and I was trying to get by just using the light from the window. I tried to fix it but my Photoshop skills are not the greatest. That’s what happens when you try to take shortcuts. Sorry!

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Stamp Sets: Deer Friends Hostess set

Inks: Basic Black, Glorious Green Classic Ink

Papers: Real Red, Glorious Green, Confetti White and Whisper White card stock

Accessories: Real Red 1/4" Grosgrain ribbon, Scallop circle punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, 1 1/4" circle punch, Earth Elements Brads (More Mustard), Stampin’ Dimensionals Big Shot Die Cut Machine and Cuttlebug Embossing Folder Snowflakes.

December 4, 2008 | Filed Under 08 Fall-Winter Catalog, Announcements, Christmas | Leave a Comment