The Reveal

Remember the sneak peeks I gave last week of a project I made as a gift? Well, the gift has been delivered and recognition of receipt received. It was a hit! I'll have to admit there was just a twinge of uncertainty of how it might be received but here the picture is worth a thousand words!

This is my Aunt Sandy, my mother's younger sister. Her birthday was December 22nd. Thanks Auntie for getting photos for me otherwise this post wouldn't haven been possible! See...I realized after I mailed it that I didn't get complete pics of the box...just partials for the teasers I used in last weeks blog! Goofy me!

This is what the box looked like before I altered it. I purchased it from Cat's Creations along with all the other products I used.

I used the Carta Bella "Beautiful Moments" Collections line. The handles are "Antique Metal Door Pulls" by Graphic 45. 

 Here is another view of the box

. Here's a view of the inside of the box before it was altered.

Inside of the box after alteration revealing handmade cards made of the same paper line inside.

Cards I made to go in the card box.

 I include a mixture of birthday, Thinking of You, Thank You, Anniversary and sympathy.

I kept the cards pretty simple in that I used mostly paper. No ribbons or other embellishments.

 This paper line makes beautiful cards don't you think?

Hopefully you made it this far to find out it's WOW Wednesday over at Cat's Creations. Leave me a comment and you have a chance to win blog candy. Cat's always has great prizes. Check out some other talented folks who link up to Cat's Blog. You might even be one of those talented people. If so link up your work to Cat's so we can see your handy work.

I'm so late today as my family celebrated Christmas today. Hoping to blog about that at a later time. Thanks for taking time to look! Have a good one!

Twas the Night Before Christmas

Twas the night before Christmas

and the sun had set

with clouds in the sky 

giving the promise of wet.

The moon not quite full

dimly seen through the clouds

gave an eerie feeling

to me on the ground.

The stockings were all hung

on the wall with great care

Stuffed full to to the brim

with no room to spare.

The tree fully decorated

with gifts all around

and there are more Christmas

decorations to be found

The front door is covered in

Christmas attire

With Christmas cards on the wall

from family and friends to admire.

The Nativity scene is set to remind us of the reason

We celebrate and enjoy this wonderful season.

Merry Christmas!

A Little Crafting A Little Playing

Even though I had already sent out my Christmas cards I still want to make Christmas themed cards! I guess that means I am in the Christmas spirit!  I figure I can put them back and use next year or donate them to Operation Write Home.

I really liked how this card turned out. It is very simple. I used one piece of card stock and the rest is heat embossed. This stamp set is from Unity. Baby Jesus I embossed in white, the star in gold and the sentiment in silver.

This card make look familiar as I used this image and sentiment on another card using a navy blue background and used a border punch on the edges. I like the simplicity of this card. The lamb is Impression Obsession. It is heat embossed with white and the stars with silver. The sentiment I created using Just Rite alphabet stamps and heat embossed with silver.

I was very pleased with this card. For my inspiration I did a web search of others who had used this stamp set (The Sounding Joy from Stampin Up) and found Miss Mad Stamper. (The card I got my inspiration from is the 3rd one down in her blog post.) For my background I used gold paper from Webster's Pages Christmas collection that I matted with black card stock. I stamped the word star on white paper with Tim Holtz Distress Ink "peeled paint". I then stamped over the star with the sentiment "Let Earth Receive Her King" using Versa Mark and heat embossed with gold embossing powder. I matted the white with a green paper from the same Webster's Pages collection and finished off with Crepe ribbon. I liked this so well I decided to try one in a different color.

I like it too!

Today at work Vanessa let Kennedy call me. Nothing melts my heart like that sweet little voice that says "Ta Ta, I want to come play with you at your house." I was going to pick her up because Keannon had the car taking Remi back home today. In a little while Vanessa sends me this picture.

with the caption "Waiting impatiently at the door for you".

We spent the afternoon together. She wanted to go the park. It was a very pleasant day after beginning at 21 degrees, we warmed up to 65. I put Kennedy in the stroller and a leash on Kaidence and to the park we went. On our way we came upon some cattails. If there is a proper name for them I don't know what it is. I had forgotten how once they have fully matured they literally explode when you touch them. Here's a video of Kennedy experiencing this unique phenomenon.

Today starts my 4 day weekend. I am so excited! Have a good one!

Exploring

The day of Kennedy's birthday the weather was just beautiful. I decided to take full advantage of it by going to ride as I knew a cold front was forecast to come through the next day.

After riding Kaidence and I went exploring the property next to where I keep Clyde.

Nice view.

The landscape is very diverse. Love how the rocks jut out.

Kaidence and I began our decent. On my way down I turned around and saw the moon.

At the base of the rocks was a long flat bottom then we came upon some water. Evidence of how dry it is.

A cattail in full maturity.

Kaidence and I walked over to the big rock then found a way up that wasn't too terrible steep.

The sun is setting but we are close to being back to the barn.

The sky is so beautiful.

I thought it was cool how the sunset was reflected in my windows.

There is talk among meteorologists that we could possible get winter weather Christmas Day. These things are very hard to predict in timing and the track they will take. For now it is looking like we could but I will be watching this closely. The little child in me wants to see the white stuff for Christmas! I am chopping at the bit to play in the snow with Kennedy! I also know it means travel problems for those having to commute to be with family. Only time will tell how this will play out. I will be watching that's for sure!

Have a good one!

Sneak Peak

As the countdown to Christmas continues I've been feverishly shopping, wrapping gifts, making and addressing Christmas cards.

It's WOW Wednesday at Cat's Creations. Here's a peak at some of what I've been working on.

Last Saturday I managed to create a 2 page layout using the new Fancy Pants Blissful Blizzard Collection with pics from the snow we had February of last year and sketch#350 from Sketch Inspiration.

I've also been working on a special project. I can't fully disclose what just yet but I can give you some sneak peaks.

Have I peaked your curiosity? Stay tuned. I'll reveal more later :)

Remi came for visitation last Friday. I had been wanting to get some pics of the girls with the Christmas tree in the Brazos Mall right outside Cat's Creations. I got that accomplished Sunday.

I wish I had been paying closer attention and noticed those people walking by. I was too focused on the girls. Kennedy is especially hard to get good pictures of right now.

This was the best I could get. Although later I discovered some of her uncooperativeness was due to the fact she didn't feel good. She started running fever while we were eating lunch.

Kennedy turned 3 today. Although we already had a party, I invited the kids over for dinner to celebrate her birthday. I cooked her favorite...mac & cheese.

I couldn't resist buying some little something to have ON her birthday. I found this little stamp set by Melissa & Doug at Tractor Supply of all places! Kennedy loved it!

It came with an ink pad...that's the empty spot in the box.

Don't forget to leave me a comment. Doing so will give you a chance at some blog candy from Cat's Creations. A random commenter will be chosen. Be sure to check out and comment on other bloggers who link up to Cat's Creations Blog. Who knows, you might even get some inspiration!

Have a good one!

Christmas is a Comin'!

As I am pondering how many days it is before Christmas and trying to decide what to title this blog, this lyric "Christmas is a comin'" popped into my head.

I am barely going to make it for WOW Wednesday at Cat's Creations Blog.

I'll keep this short and simple. I have done a little crafting but not as much as I would like. I MUST get my room back under control! I can't find ANYTHING!

In the meantime I made a card to send to my granddaughter Remi.

This digital image is from Scrap Happy Paper Crafter. I colored him with my Copic markers. The papers are from my stash. The light DP is a fall Bo Bunny from a few years ago. The green is an older paper from Graphic 45. I used a Stampin Up border punch on the green piece.

Kennedy got a scrapbooking kit for her birthday from someone besides me! In her kit were some cards and envelopes. She wanted to make Remi a card so I helped her.

I asked her what she wanted to say and then I wrote it for her. I thought that was so sweet.

Since Remi and Kennedy know the first letter of their names (Remi can write her name), I made some tags for their gifts that they could find.  The tags actually match better than it looks in this photo. I stamped the image and letters with Versamark and heat embossed with white powder. Then using Tim Holtz distressed ink Faded Jeans I inked the tag. I thought they turned out cute.

Here's a close up.

This is an Impression Obsessions stamp that I purchased at Cat's Creations. I just love it! I also made a few Christmas cards with it.

I heat embossed using silver powder. The sentiment I created using my "Just Rite" alphabet stamps. (Also purchased at Cat's.)  The border I created using a punch from Stampin Up. As you can see, I still haven't perfected getting all the way around the edges evenly with the punch!

Well that's it for me today. Be sure to leave me a comment for a chance to win blog candy given to a random commenter from Cat's Creations. Be sure to check out all the details here.  Have a good one!

Merry and Bright

I finally completed my Christmas decorating. It's not that I have all that much. I just strung it out! I decorated outside first to take advantage of the beautiful weather we've been having. This time of year can be tricky.

I've had the tree up since last Friday. Kennedy helped me put it together. Yes there were presents before the tree was up!

I apologize for the pic being blurry. I should have gotten out my camera instead of using my phone but its so handy!


I decorated the tree last night.

I managed to carve out a little time to create a card for a challenge over at The Stamping Shack. The theme for this challenge is "Sparkle & Shine".

The background paper is white shimmery with a curvy design. I got this paper on sale. There wasn't anything identifying what company made this paper or what it's called. The ornaments are out of glitter paper I had and used my new framelits ornament dies from Stampin' Up. I used real wire for the string. I popped both ornaments with foam tape.

I stamped the sentiment with VersaMark and embossed with metallic gold. I was pleased with how this card turned out. I hope to make another card to enter this challenge.

Have a good one!

Calculating and Computing

Today is WOW Wednesday at Cat's and I'm sharing a two page layout I created.

I used sketch#349 from Sketch Inspiration.

On the right side I flipped the sketch and tweaked a bit to coordinate with the other page. I used Teresa Collins new fall collection "Now and Then". These are pics of my granddaughter Kennedy with her Granddad taken a year ago. She loves to go into his office playing with his calculator and with his help the computer so I titled this layout "Calculating and  Computing.

Here is a close up of the left side.

Here's a close up of the right side. For something different I drug out my needle, thread and templates to add some stitching. I don't do this often as it is too time consuming but I do like the look!

Saturday was my husband's birthday. Bless his heart, he had to work so we celebrated on Sunday. This is the card I made for him.

If this card looks familiar it's because I did make some cards very similar to this for Operation Write Home. You can find them here if you would like to see. I used a OWH sketch #133.

Be sure to leave me a comment for a chance to win some blog candy being offered by Cat's Creations. A random commentor will be picked from all of those who have linked up to Cat's Creations Blog. Someone will win. It might as well be you!

Thanks for visiting me today. Have a good one!