Getting down to Crunch Time!

Wahhhh - my Steelers lost today.  I thought they were going to pull out the win but time ran away from them and they didn't get the win.  They played the Jets and both teams were fighting for playoff berths.  We play Carolina on Thursday who should be an easy team to beat considering they have only won 2 games all season, but you just never know with football!  Anything can happen - and usually does!

We're entering the final stretch for Christmas.  This is the last week to get your shopping done, bake those cookies, wrap the presents and get your singing voice ready for Christmas carolling!  I only have a couple more presents to buy; haven't made any cookies yet; haven't wrapped the first present; and don't have a singing voice!  I did make some tags tonight so I can do my wrapping tomorrow and finally put something under the tree besides dust.  What about you?  Are you ready for Santa?

I had a great time this weekend making digital calendars!  I am just so proud of them.  I subscribe to a monthly on-line magazine, Paper and Pixels.  It is fairly new and is free.  They have some really good articles and ideas.  If you are interested, here is a link to them - ( http://www.papersandpixels.com/).  Saturday, I was reading the magazine and they had information about a CD calendar.  There was a download of the calendar template and several other links to the calendar.  I downloaded all of their information and opened up My Digital Studio and that's all it took.  I created three different calendars using parts of their download and a lot of the paper, stamps and embellishments from Stampin' Up.  What fun I had!!  Here is a peek at a couple of the pages.

January - everything came downloaded on the page except - the snowflake at the top, the brads in the middle of the snowflake, the skaters (which I colored after printing it out), and the big snowman.

 February - Again, everything printed out as is.  I just added from MDS, the items in the 3 boxes and the heart stamp on the calendar.  After I printed it out, I added a real pink corduroy button where the rhinestone is.

The more I use My Digital Studio, the more I really love it!!  It really got a work out this weekend!!  I ended up printing the calendar pages on some glossy white paper that I had and they turned out super.

Oh - by the way, I didn't wake up yesterday to snow!  I never saw any snow at my house although a few areas around us got snow - just no accumulation.  My mom called in the afternoon to say she had seen some really big flakes at her house.  Oh well - maybe for Christmas!

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas!

I'm hoping to wake up tomorrow morning to a snow filled yard!  That's what is being predicted although not much accumulation.  It'll just be nice to see some snow - especially this time of year!  It has been bone chilling cold all week.  Today was the first day I dared to venture out without my long-johns on!  I was out most of the day and it was a very nice day weather wise - got up to the mid 40's and was not bad.  I got my hair cut this morning and then met a friend at Panera Bread for lunch.  After that, I stopped by Stampers Alley to visit with my stamping friends there and check out their sales.  A few more stops - Dollar Store, Best Buy, Staples, and Winkler Bakery where I had to buy some yummy Moravian cookies!  This store (where I bought the cookies) is just in town for the holidays.  They are from Winston Salem where we went last year to Salem Village and had the most wonderful Sugar Cake - hot from the oven.  I think Sonny has decided we may have to drive down to Salem next week!  

He made sausage balls tonight and put them in a tin to send to Ashley.  That is his and Ashley's Christmas tradition - to make the sausage balls together.  I helped a little bit but he did most of it.  I doubt she'll get them by Christmas but she'll have something to look forward to after Christmas.  It is not taking our packages very long to get to her at all.  She received a box from us yesterday that we sent Priority Mail on Dec. 10.  I have to take my hats off to the Post Office for their speedy service as well as to UPS.  I received a UPS package Tuesday but when I tracked it earlier in the week, it was due to be delivered on Thursday!  I was impressed.

I've made a few more Christmas cards in the last day or two.  Every time I think I'm through, I discover someone I left off the list.  Plus, when I was at Stampers Alley today, I bought a new Just Rite set and I had to use it.  A friend sent me a Christmas card using this set (hi, Vicki!) and it was such a pretty card, I had to have the stamp.

 This is the new set I just bought - isn't it nice?  Also, I love this ribbon trim.  Another friend was the enabler on it (you, Judy!)  I saw a card she made with it and I had to have it too!  Doesn't take much to persuade me to part with my money.

I love this Santa!  This is from a set in the Holiday Mini.  If you hurry, you still have time to get him.  The Holiday Mini expires at the end of December.

 These are a couple of stamps that I bought several months ago but hadn't inked them yet.  I used Versacolor Bamboo and Celadon for the trees.  Isn't the bear the cutest?  He has Stickles on him.
 

 Another darling snowman!  He comes in the same set that Santa is in - Jolly Old Saint Nick.  The paper is from the Candy Cane Christmas DSP that is now sold out.

This set is an older Just Rite set that I had.  I was trying to color the ornaments to match the Candy Cane DSP using my Copics.  I also dyed the ribbon to match.  I love this ribbon!

Coaster Calendar 2011

Every year I give my hair dresser a little calendar for her work station.  Friday, I am going to get my hair trimmed and shaped up so I had to get going with making her calendar.  I also made one of these yesterday to include in my Christmas gift for my Bunco Yankee Swap but I didn't have time to take pictures of it.  I finished the calendar about 5:30 and still had to take a shower, wash and dry hair, get ready for the party and get my snack together by 7 PM!  So glad my hair is shorter now - it is so much easier to  fix!!

January uses the DSP from SU's Holiday Mini and Spellbinders Nested Mittens.  After I took the picture, I decided to glitter the mittens!

February - I got to use some SU rub-ons that were a gift from Stampin Up to me!

March - I cut up a card Sonny sent me - it is just beautiful - like Monet waterlilies.  I added a flower from God's Beauty stamp set (retired) and glitter.

April - This is some retired DSP from Stampin' Up.  The stamp set is from My Favorite Things.

May - more retired DSP paper from SU and the bird punch!

June - retired DSP.  The stamp set is called Bugs & Blooms but I don't know who makes it.

July - pretty simple just using bits and pieces of different papers.

August - another simple one.  I found this tag and stamped the saying from SU's Peace Within

September - a great place for the children from Greeting Card Kids (SU).  I colored them with my Copics.

October - another great use of Greeting Card Kids and the spider web from Wicked Cool.

November - isn't he cute?  This is Gobble, Gobble - a retired single stamp that I love!  I used different colors of markers to color directly on the stamp.

December - I had this "Merry Christmas" already colored in my stash so I adhered it to the page and I was done!  

Hope this gives you inspiration to make your own calendar!

Christmas Eating Tips

With all the Christmas parties we are going to, I thought these tips on over eating would help!!

These 10 steps have helped people lose at least 20 lbs in six months. Amazing how much changing how we do things changes the results.

1. Include a fruit and a vegetable with your lunch and dinner
2. Don't eat white foods at dinner.
3. Use the half-plate rule (fill half your plate with salad or veggies).
4. Have a sweet or salty afternoon snack only if you first eat a piece of fresh fruit.
5. Drink one glass of water before every meal or snack.
6. Use the Restaurant Rule of Two: Limit yourself to two items other than your entree.
7. Never eat in front of the TV.
8. Eat a piece of fruit on the way to work every day.
9. Save desserts for weekends.
10. Freeze half of what you make, and serve the other half.

Figure out where your diet danger zones are and rein it in and get it under control or avoid that zone completely until you can.

Meal Stuffing - Stuffers overeat at mealtimes, filling and refilling their plates, perhaps because they haven't eaten much earlier in the day.

Party Binging - Receptions and celebrations are distracting environments for party bingers, who can lose track - or control - of how much they've eaten or drunk.

Desktop/Dashboard Dining - Both desktop diners and dashboard diners are speed eaters. They eat at work or on the go to save time - yet often don't realize how much they've eaten, since they're eating quickly.

Restaurant Indulging - The restaurant indulger eats out often, having dinner away from home at least three nights a week. Research shows that if you're served more (as you usually are at restaurants) you'll automatically eat more.

Snack Grazing - Grazers typically reach for food more from habit than hunger. Maybe it's that 3 p.m. slump, when the offerings in the office vending machine actually look good.

So, where is your diet danger zone? Maybe it's not even on this list.

~~~Latest AARP Magazine 2010

Christmas Cards .... Almost Done!

I had a very productive weekend.  I got a lot of Christmas cards made.  I'll start addressing them tomorrow and maybe I'll have enough!!  Things have started to slow down for me and I don't feel so stressed about getting everything done.  I put a few decorations up last week and decorated my tree.  Now to get some shopping done!  Tomorrow is my bridge Christmas party and I have all my gifts ready to go.  Saturday night my sisters, my mom and my friend, Margaret attended a Singing Christmas Tree at a local church.  It was awesome .... in fact, I think that is what has finally put me in the Christmas spirit.  Margaret had never been to a Singing Christmas Tree before and I think she really enjoyed it.  Even my Steelers cooperated today by winning by a good margin and not stressing me out at the last minute. 

I received a couple of pretty hand-made Christmas cards this weekend and they are what inspired me also.  Margaret had given me a few sheets of designer paper from a 6x6 book that she had and they got my creative juices going.  Here are a couple of the cards I made with that paper:

 For this one I dug out Flowers for All Occasions (SU) that I bought last year and don't think I've even used it.  I colored it in Cherry Cobbler because it most matched the paper.

 This poinsetta is watercolored using SU watercolor crayons (they are available to order now!!) and my aqua pen.  They look pink but it is actually Ruby Red.  Couldn't get a good picture of it.

This card uses SU's DSP from the Holiday Mini.  The sentiment is from Best Yet (retired). 

Hope your week is wonderful.  It is going to be COLD here all week with highs in the 30's and lows in the teens.  Ashley has been getting a little cold weather over in Iraq also.  The highs for the past few days have just been in the 50's and even getting down to high 30's or low 40's at night. 

How to Achieve Inner Peace

Dr Phil proclaimed recently on his show, "The way to achieve inner peace is to finish all the things you have started and have never finished." 

So, I looked around my house to see all the things I started and hadn't finished, and before leaving the house this morning, I finished off a bottle of White Zinfandel, a bottle of Bailey's Irish Cream, a package of Oreos, the remainder of my old Prozac prescription, the rest of the cheesecake, some Doritos,  a box of chocolates, and a half bottle of rum .

You have no idea how good I feel right now!!

Seriously ... I did finish up some Christmas cards that were on my desk in bits and pieces and I do feel good about that.  Hope you feel good about them too!

 This is a stamp that I have had 6-7 years and probably only used it once or twice.  I bought it when we still lived in Washington - before I became a Stampin' Up demonstrator.  I decided to blow off the dust and use it tonight.  Also - how long has it been since you used your deckle scissors????  I can't believe I could still find mine, but they look ok on this card I think.  You can't tell from the picture but I stamped the image twice - once in Garden Green ink and a second time in black ink.  I cut out the trees and snowman (black ink) and glued them on the larger green stamped piece.

 These cards are left over bits I found from a class I taught at Stampers Alley last year.  It was a One Sheet Wonder class but I didn't have the bits of paper from the One Sheet Wonder so I found these scraps of DSP on my cutting table and used them instead.

 More cards left over from the One Sheet Wonder class.  I cut these vintage pieces out of some DSP that I found in my closet.  Use up your scraps and see what you can create!

 

Another from the One Sheet Wonder bunch.  Those are some bright green trees, don't you think?

So I hope these give you some inspiration to look around at what you have sitting in your scrap pile or even on your desk that you can put to good use on a card and bring yourself "inner peace."

The Whirlwind of the Christmas Season

It's that time of the year - when the faster I go, the behinder I get!!  I have been furiously working trying to get everything made and my Christmas cards done.  The past two days I have made 8 Christmas Planners.  I wanted to put them in the bags for my Stamp Club ladies.  Unfortunately, I have already put them in the bags and they are ready to be delivered.  I forgot to take pictures!!  Take my word for it - they are really cute! 

My bridge Christmas party is Monday.  I wanted to decorate some of those calendar planners that you can get at M's.  But, when I went to buy them on Monday, they only had 1 calendar left!  I can't believe it!  Usually you can find those calendars all year long.  My friend, Margaret, is coming this week to visit so I asked her to check with her "M" store there in Texas but they were sold out too.  So, when I couldn't find the planners, I bought all the little 3" square tins that they had which were 14.  I am in the process of making little note cards to put inside of them.  Of course, wouldn't you know it, all I bought were 14 and there will be 15 at bridge (16 counting me).  Luckily, I happened to have a larger rectangle Christmas tin that I will fix up for the hostess.  She always has our Christmas party at her house so she deserves a little treat. 

Tomorrow is my Mahjong Christmas party.  I decided not to do anything for everyone there - just not enough time.  Plus, there is an overlap of people at Southern Living Luncheon (last week) and bridge and mahjong.

Margaret and Graham are arriving here tomorrow.  They are visiting their daughter and grandson today.  So, hopefully we will have a little time to make a few Christmas cards.  We are going to the Singing Christmas Tree in Mooresville (Berea Baptist Church) on Saturday with my mom and sisters.  Then we'll be headed to Big Al's on Sunday for the football game. 

I probably won't have a chance to post anything until Sunday or Monday.  Don't give up on me! 

Over the Top Decorating

Sunday a couple of friends and I went on a Christmas Tour of Homes in my neighborhood.  Wow! is all I can say.  The four houses were decorated to the max.  They were all done in different styles - Traditional, Eclectric, Lodge, and Tuscany.  I was in awe and hated to come back home and think about decorating my home for Christmas. 

The Tuscany home was just too much to me though - not necessarily the decorations but the home itself.  Sonny and I had gone through the home a few times when it was under construction a couple of years ago.  Keep in mind there are just two people living in the home.  It was three stories.  Downstairs there was a den, two bedrooms, huge "mudroom", full bar, wine cellar, and a media room with copper ceiling.  All the doors downstairs were at least 8 feet tall - maybe even 10 feet - I'm not good with that and made of cypress wood.  They were gorgeous but $$$.  Everything in the home was massive and just over the top - probably at least a two million dollar home.  The home next door to them has been for sale for over a year - it started out at 1.9 million - don't know what they are asking now though.

These art pieces were in two of the homes.  They used old pieces of jewelry to create a Christmas tree.  I'm going to start searching through my family's old jewelry pieces and make one of my own!

 

This was a centerpiece in the dining room at the tradional home.  The "presents" are styrofoam blocks covered in moss and wrapped with beautiful ribbon.  So easy!

This Christmas tree was upstairs in the traditional home (my favorite).  The toys were a step back in time.

I thought this snowman collections was really cute.

Christmas Cards

I watched the Steelers last night pull off a nail biter!  Our quarterback was in the game with a broken bone in his foot so he had a special shoe on and then in one of the first plays, he broke his nose!  But that didn't keep him from a victory.  What was so neat though was at the last 2 minutes when we intercepted the Ravens and finally went ahead, I "skyped" Ashley and we  watched the game together for a few minutes.  Then we were afraid we would jinx our winning, so we signed off but she called me back 2 minutes later when we WON!   She went to bed early Sunday so she could get up at 4 am to watch the game.  That's a fan for you!!  When I called her, it was 7:30 for her - she had to be at work at 8.  Luckily, the game was over in time.

OK - here are some of the Christmas cards I made on Saturday.  Hope these give you some inspiration making your cards.

For this card, I used Circle Circus.  I'd been thinking about this stamp set and wanted to see if I could use it to make a Christmas card.  Not bad, if I do say so myself!  I stamped the different circles in Real Red, Crumb Cake and Garden Green.  Then I punched the circles from red and green cardstock with the 3/4" circle punch.  The red dot on each one is Liquid Pearl.  The base card is Crumb Cake.

 The pink striped ribbon was the reason for this card.  I just got this ribbon last week and wanted to use it.  I stamped the Pretty in Pink rectangle just using an acrylic stamping block.  Just ink up the block and stamp it on your cardstock.  The ornament is from Delightful Decorations (pg 35).  I inked it in Basic Gray and punched it out with the Ornament Punch.  The base card is Pretty in Pink.

 This card was an experiment!  I stamped the blue cardstock with snowflakes in Versamark.  Then I clear embossed some of them and put white embossing powder on some.  Then Isponged different shades of blue ink over them.  I embossed a strip of green cardstock with snowflakes and wrapped it with the red checked ribbon.  On the ribbon, I sewed a basting stitch down the middle and gathered it.  I put little red rhinestones in the centers of some of the snowflakes.

 This was a super simple card!  I just stamped Peace On Earth (from Holiday Mini - hostess set) onto a piece of the Deck the Halls DSP (from the Holiday Mini catalog) and adhered it to a Always Artichoke card base.  This is just gorgeous paper and makes it so easy!

This is another piece of DSP from Deck the Halls.  The card base is Cherry Cobbler (I think my favorite color!).  I used Spellbinders Circles and my Big Shot to cut out the Always Artichoke scallop circle and Crumb Cake circle.  I stamped the "Dec 25" stamp (from Tags Till Christmas in the Holiday Mini) twice - once in Artichoke and the second time - only Dec 25 - in Cherry Cobbler.  I punched the Artichoke piece with the Decorative Label Extra Large punch and the "dec 25" piece with the oval punch.  The Cherry Cobbler piece is punched with the Scallop Oval.  I punched a white snowflake.  The little flower in the center is made by taking about a 5" piece of Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding (holiday mini) and sewing down one side; pull the thread tight until you form a flower.  Glue it down and add a pearl to the center and Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding at the bottom.

A Productive Day!

I stuck to my guns on Saturday and stamped all day!  Oh what fun!  Of course, I had to take a little time in the morning to chat with Ashley.  Skype is such a wonderful thing!  We probably talk to each other as much now as we did when she was state-side.  Although this week, we have both been busy and haven't chatted in several days.  We made up for it yesterday though!  She is doing well and making the most of her life in Iraq.  She went to a "Hail and Farewell" one day this week.  All the companies put on skits where they make fun of something (or someone) there and the company who does the best gets to reward the "prize" to the person who was the butt of the joke in their skit.  Ashley's group won this time.  She says they never win and usually end up getting the booby prize.  In their skit, they did it all about the Captain who is in charge of the dining facility.  It seems that she practically strip searches the soldiers as they are leaving because you can only take 2 items out of the cafeteria.  If you can't make it to a meal (which in the doctors' case, is quite a lot since they are on call every other day until 8 pm), you can't have someone bring you a meal.  UNLESS, you have filled out the forms - a month in advance - and presented them to the captain in advance AND she hasn't lost them (which is the case for this month!).  Crazy, huh??  The forms have to be signed by a LT. Col and a couple of others.  Ashley said a couple of days ago, she & the the LT. Col. were at dinner and tried to take a meal back to one of the medics.  They were not allowed to because their forms had been lost - even though the LT. Col. who would have signed the memo was the one making the request.  Needless to say, Ashley eats a lot of her meals in her room - things we have sent her like mac & cheese, pretzels, with mustard, popcorn, etc.  Another problem with the mess hall is she has to be dressed in her uniform in order to go in to eat.  The gym is right next door and Ashley does Yoga there several times a week and doesn't usually want to get dressed again just to go in the cafeteria.  They are not allowed to go in with just their work out clothes (shorts & tee) on.  You would think this was some fancy restaurant - not an Army Mess Hall!!  One of the drawbacks to Ashley eating in her room (in my opinion!) is she is eating way too many carbs.  Even she remarked yesterday about it.  It is hard to think of things to send that she can microwave in her room that are not carb-packed.  Any suggestions out there?  I am sending a stick of pepperoni this week and suggested to a friend to send a stick of summer sausage.  I actually sneaked a few oranges in her box last week.  I forgot you can't send fruit overseas and was afraid it would get stuck in Customs.  But she received the box in the usual time.  It is great that it only takes about a week to get a Priority box to her!  Her birthday is December 22 so I will be getting a birthday box together this week.

While I was working away, my DH hollered up to me to look out the window.  To my surprise, this is what I saw:

 SNOW!!  We had a few flurries - mixed in with sleet off and on for about an hour.  Nothing stuck of course but it was sure fun to see!

Now - on to my creations!  I actually did several Christmas cards AND several Valentine cards!  During my blog reading last week, I came across one of my favorite designers, Gretchen Barron's request for Valentine cards for From Our Hearts who are collecting Valentine cards for the troops in Iraq and Afganistan.  You can read about it - and Gretchen's contest - HERE.  So before I got started with my Christmas cards, I whipped up a few Valentines.  They are pretty simple - using some DSP I had in my stash and/or some embossed cards I have had for a long time.

 This Hugs & Kisses card uses some DSP that I found in a pack.  I just added the Hugs & Kisses sentiment.

 This is an embossed card that I have had for over 5 years  - I made two of them and finally have used up those cards!  I used markers to color the LOVE and chalked the background in pink.

 Another of those embossed cards.  I stamped "miss U" with a retired SU set (All About You) and punched out some little hearts and glued them over the embossed hearts.

Another piece of DSP from a pack I found.  I stamped the boat onto cardstock and colored it with markers.  This is another SU retired set - Boatloads of Love.

Do you notice a theme?  I have my SU stamp sets on shelves in loose alpha order.  I started with the top shelf (A-D) and pulled stamp sets that I could use in Valentine and Christmas cards.  I am trying to use some of my neglected stamp sets!  Tomorrow I will share the Christmas cards I made so come back!!

Gotta run so I can decorate my tree before I attend an Open House Tour in my neighborhood.  There will be four houses in the tour all decorated for Christmas with different themes.  There will be appetizers and wine at each home.  The proceeds will go toward a Palliative CareCenter & Hospice that will be built soon in my town.  Then back home to get dinner ready so we can eat in front of the TV tonight while pulling on our Steelers in a TOUGH game!!