Happy New Year!

A Few Handmade Christmas Cards

This is one of the cards I made to send out. I really like the paper - Basic Grey. I only got 3 hand made cards this year. I love getting any kind of Christmas card but I especially like the hand made ones!
















This one came from my very good friend - Barb. She made it using a Close To My Heart card kit.
















This one was made by on of my Stampin' Up Demonstrators. Very Cute!
This photo on the inside is hilarious. It has her two kids with Santa and one is smiling and all happy and the other is screaming and sliding off Santa's lap and one shoe is missing. I hope she scrapbooks that photo.





















And last, but not least, this one came from my friend Erin. I like the colors and I love the little snowman. I going to have to borrow that one. The stamp is also a Stampin' Up stamp. Cute card Erin!

Recipe for my personality

I always see these on Stampin When I Can and I just have to do one too! Sounds a lot like me except I would put a little less desire and more defiance.

The Recipe For Becky

3 parts Desire 2 parts Ambition 1 part Difance Splash of Panache Finish off with a little umbrella and straw

What's" the Recipe for Your Personality?

Blogthing...

You Are Marge Simpson

You're a devoted family member who loves unconditionally. Sometimes, though, you dream about living a wild secret life! You will be remembered for: your good cooking and evading the police Your life philosophy: "You should listen to your heart, and not the voices in your head."

The Simpsons Personality Test

Talking to Santa!

The kids got to see Santa today! Nick told Santa that he wanted a WII and and Xbox 360 and something else that was expensive. Santa told Nick that he thought that Nick might need to get a job instead! I thought that was a good answer. Grace's was simple, she wants a Barbie. The photo is not that great since there was a big shadow across the faces. I did what I could to correct it at least the photo was free! I think this Santa genuinely likes kids, he was a good Santa.

Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe

This is the best Peanut Butter Cookie recipe that I have found. It has a great PB taste and the cookies are soft and chewy not hard.

2 sticks butter (1 cup) - softened to room temperature
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup light brown sugar
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour (sifted) I usually don't sift.
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

1) Combine the butter, peanut butter, and sugars using a mixer on a medium to
low speed until light and fluffy.
2) Slowly add eggs and vanilla until thoroughly combined. Then mix in flour,
baking soda and salt.
3) Roll dough into approximately 1- 1/2 in balls and place on a cookie sheet
lined with parchment paper. Place about 2 inches apart.
4) Dip a fork into sugar and flatten each ball in a criss-cross pattern.
5) Bake at 325 degrees F for 10-12 minutes. I bake just until the bottom of the
cookies become a light brown.

I also like to add chocolate chip "chunks" to the dough and then you would just roll into balls and bake and do not flatten.

More Elfing fun!

This time I elfed our dog, my mom's dog and grace again because I could not find a photo of the cat!
Elfyourself.com Enjoy!!

Children...

I received this video from my son's teacher. It's worth watching and remembering.

Raising Small Souls.com

Hope you enjoy it.

Scrapbook challenge page

This is a challenge from Splitcoaststampers. The challenge is SBSc117 dated November 30, 2007. The designer/artist of this sketch is MICHELLE (flaxychick). I have decided to start doing the challenges - hopefully once or twice a week in the hopes of getting caught up on my scrapbooking - yeah right.

The paper is textured paper and it looks a little funky in the photo. I stamped a flower on the paper in Versamark and layered several paper flowers with a brad in the center.

I've Been Tagged!

Sophia tagged me and it has taken me forever to do it - sorry about that.

Here are the rules:

Link to your tagger (see above), and also post these rules on your blog.

Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.

Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.

Let them know they are TAGGED by leaving a comment on their blog.

So here we go, 7 facts about me:

1) I love Diet Coke and cold pizza for breakfast.

2) I secretly want a third child, but I don't think it's gonna happen!

3) I love to scrapbook, I was hooked from the moment I went to a home party.

4) I like to make cards using rubberstamps, I stayed away from going to stamp
parties for years because I just knew I would like it. It's true, Stampin' Up &
Close To My Heart get a lot of my money!

5) I think the guy on "Dirty Jobs" is sexy.

6) I would love to have a layout published in a magazine, but I am to insecure
to send in a page.

7) I am addicted to reading stamping/scrapbooking blogs.

Now 7 people to tag. Actually I only have 2 people to tag :(

Joy

Melissa

Christmas Card

I thought I was all done with my cards when I discovered that I need to make about 10 more. I don't want to make the same design that I made before because I am bored with that. So here is one I made. It is totally not my design and all credit goes to Jackie Pedro and Julee Tillman - I am just a follower - lol. I found the idea at The Scalloped Edge (just scroll down until you see her card) and she got the basic layout of the card from Julee Tillman's "Mojo Monday". Anyway, I wanted to share because I thought it was a cute card. I just used a different sized card, and different stamps. I did use the Cuttlebug but I did not have their snowflake folder, instead I used the Fiskar's snowflake embossing template it does not emboss as deep and gives it a softer touch. Oh, and I used white shimmery paper and also used a glitter pen on Santa's beard and while puffy paint on his hat, and cuffs.

Gracie has been scrooged

She got 6 shots at her 4 year check up and this is how it made her feel!
http://www.scroogeyourself.com/?id=1125229946

I have been Elfed!

Check out this LINK - I added Nick and Gracies and my Moms faces to the elfs. It's pretty hiliarious! Let me know if the link does not load up properly.

I have been tagged!

I have been tagged by Sophia, As soon as I get a free moment I will figure out who to tag as well and I will answer the questions. I just didn't want Sophia to think I forgot.

Castle Birthday Cake

Grace is having her birthday party tomorrow. She turns 4. I can't believe that she is already 4 it seems like just yesterday she was a little tiny screaming baby. Time flies.

Here is the cake that she wanted me to make for her party. It was harder than I thought it would be but I think it came out ok. Grace pronounced it Prettyful. I guess it's a keeper!

Plucky

This is Plucky - I found the pattern for him in a book called Plush-O-Rama. My son is getting him for Christmas and Grace will probably get a pink girly looking one as well. Our dog loves stuffed animals and he was convinced that it was for him. Might have to make him one as well.

Getting a jump on holiday crafting

I made these ornaments today! I think they turned out pretty good for my first try. I am going to have Nick and Grace help me make some for their teachers for Christmas this year. I found the tutorial on the blog Prairie Paper & Ink . Go check out her blog, she has some good tutorials.

Trick or Treat!

Isn't she pretty? She was really grouchy when I was trying to take her photo. We went trick or treating for about 45 minutes then the kids pumpkins were full and it was getting chilly so we came home. It took Grace a while to understand what was going on with trick or treating but once she had it there was no stopping her!

BOO!

Nick had a hard time deciding what to be for Halloween this year. He really wanted to be something scary or gory but they don't allow that at school. Things have changed A LOT since I was in grade school! So he settled on the Scream. On the other hand, Grace had no problem deciding what to be, she wants to be a "Princess Barbie". I made the costume (with some help from my mom) and Grace calls it "Prettyfull". More photos of Grace once we do her hair and add the tiara. PS: I did a horrible job of hemming up the bottom, the fabric was awful to work with. I don't think it will be too noticeable once she has it on.

Our new dog

We have adopted Kio, a Shiba-Inu on a trail basis for 2 weeks. So far, after week one, he has been a good dog and not peed or pooped in the house. He does drive me crazy because he wants in and out all day long. I humor him during the day, but at night he needs to learn to just settle down and relax so I can relax too. We'll let you know next Saturday if he is still going to ours.

Halloween Pumpkins

Every year we go to my brothers house in the mountains to carve pumpkins. Technically we do this for the kids, but they just run around and we are the ones who really enjoy carving up the pumpkins. My brother has this weird, warped, strange creative streak and each year I look forward seeing what he will come up with. The photo on the left is his creation this year.
Below are all the pumpkins we did this year, the white one is Gracies. Oh, and my brother came up with a new nickname for her this year, she is now known as "Gravy". Poor thing, it will probably stick with her for life. Nicks new name is "Nosepicker" and Nick retaliated by calling Mark " Uncle Dork". Yes, we are a classy family.

Downtown Aquarium

We went to the Downtown Aquarium today. We have not been there in several years and they have made some improvements. They have 4 tigers that live there but we did not see much of them today.

Nick is turning 8!

I had to make this cake recipe 3 times! The first time was to make a small round cake and the second time was supposed to be the larger 13x9 cake, however, I forgot to add the eggs and it turned out about 1 inch high. So, I made it a 3rd time and this time I remembered the eggs! Then I had to run to the store - again - to get more butter for the icing. It's a good thing this cake tastes good.















Nick had his party at a local jump house, the kids had a lot of fun running off excess energy.


Here is Grace making one of her goofy faces for the camera.

Places I have visited

USA: I have seen 37% of the USA


create your own personalized map of the USA

Countries; I have visited 4% of the world!


create your own visited country map

How Much is My Blog Worth?

My blog is worth $564.54.
How much is your blog worth?

Paper Flower Bouquet

I made this for a friend for her birthday. Hope she likes it! I used the Cricut: Walk in my Garden, Tags Bags & Boxes, George. The buttons I had on hand, the paper is Basic Grey (LilyKate) I just love their paper. I got the watering can at Michael's.

Nerdiness - Just so you know!

Gift from Sophia!

I got this package in the mail the other day from Sophia! She is from South Africa and it was so exciting to me to get a package from so far away, especially from a place I have always wanted to visit.





Thank you Sophia, be on the look out for a package from Colorado in the very near future. I can't wait to play with all the goodies.

Olive Doll

I have been looking around for a pattern of a soft doll to make for my daughter for Christmas. I saw one on Melissa Goodsell's blog and thought it would be perfect. So I bought the pattern from
Wee Wonderful's and down loaded the PDF file and got started today. This one is my trial doll and already I can see a few things that I did wrong. But overall it turned out pretty darn good for someone who has not really sewed in many years. I had a hard time with the bow, the instructions were not clear and I finally gave up and made my own way. She is supposed to have a collar and it was so small that I could not get it turned inside out once I sewed it up. So I gave up on the collar. Maybe I should give her a necklace instead. My daughter caught me making it and she was very interested in it. So I think she will like the one that she will end up getting for Christmas.

Bella Birthday Card

This card was made using a challenge #21 from Captain Crafter. I usually don't do challenges because to be honest; I really don't know what I am supposed to do after I make the card (submit it to the person who issued the challenge?). I followed the basic format and added a few elements such as the flower and the photo corner. The photo corner was cut from my Cricut using Jasmine. The paper is Bazzil and the stamp is a Bella. The ribbon is white organza from SU that I colored with pink ink. I stamped Happy Birthday on the inside because this card is going to a special friend for her birthday. Hopefully she won't see it here first! Oh, and I sewed on it too! Overall, I am pretty happy with this card.

My Craft Area

My craft room is in our basement. We don't have a finished basement - yet, but hopefully someday we will. The desk came from my DH's business. It has been a real mess and it took me a week to get it cleaned up enough to share. However, I won't talk about what might be crammed behind the doors!

The tall cabinet to the right holds all my stamps and right now it is a real mess in there. We have a walk out basement so I have a nice view of the yard through the window.

Recent scrapbook pages.

My scanner cut off about 1/4 inch of the bottom of the pages. I would love to have a scanner large enough to scan an entire 12x12 page in piece.