8 Years, a Couple of Gifts, and a Cold

8 Years. Eight years, as of today, I have spent with the most wonderful man in the world! Happy Anniversary, Hubbums! I love you!!!



I also wanted to share with you a couple of gifts that I made (at the last minute of course....for the most important people in my life! LOL!) for Christmas.

I created this canvas for Sean. It is a favorite quote of his.

like tears in the rain



This is the $3 frame that I scored at Home Goods (it had a print in it and I just switched it out with cuteness!) and then created this wall hanging for my parents. Mom was pretty much thrilled with it, so that's good.



Finally, this is a little faux moleskine that I created using Kraft cardstock for the cover and upcycled grocery bags for the pages. My camera obviously didn't care for this, as it refused to take a clear photo (trust me...I tried!), however, it is really cute because it has gnomes on it and gnomes are just awesome and stuff.

And....yes, I seem to have come down with this loveliness that everlone has been wandering around with. I had a shot of Dayquil with my breakfast, so I'm hoping that works. We are expecting 6-8 inches of snow today, so at least I will have a nice extra long time to "relax" in traffic during my 60 mile commute home! LOL! Actually, I think I will leave early today. It's New Year's Eve AND my anniversary, so I say I have an excuse!

My Husband is the Best...Another Thank You...and...A Question to Ponder

I just need to take a moment to let you all know that I have the BEST husband in the whole world! No, seriously, though, folks, I really do! Let me show you what he did for me for Christmas!

First of all, we only do stockings, as we don't like to focus on the "gifts" part of Christmas so much. Well, he does an AWESOME job every single year and this time was NO exception!

Let's begin with the candy he chose to stuff in there. There was a bag of Peach rings....I don't have a photo, but they didn't last long! LOL! I LOVE those things! And then there were these...



Do you SEE what that is???? It's a Dymo Label maker gum dispenser!!!! AND....candy BUTTONS!!!! He went out and found "scrapbook supply" candy!!!! If that's not the sweetest thing, I just don't even know what is....

...BUT WAIT, There's More!

You see, he also wanted to get me a few scrappy things, but when he went out to the stores he saw that there was so much on sale and he wasn't quite sure what was on sale because it was a good deal and what was on sale because it was crap that came out decades ago an they just wanted to get rid of it....SO....the natural choice would be a gift card, right? Well, he didn't want to do that, seeing as I am his wife and that is a wee tad bit impersonal and all....so what did he do? That sweet man took his change jar, got it cashed in and he put these in my stocking:



Why, yes! Those are those really cool dollar coins!!!! They are way fun! I thought that was a wonderfully creative way to give me the freedom of choice!

BUT WAIT...that's Not ALL FOLKS!

Guess what he made for me!!!!



Yup! You read that right! He made it! Just for me! And...because I'm totally into upcycling and he knows that he made it from a t-shirt of mine that didn't fit quite right. Yeah, my husband is the coolest in the world! That's all I'm say'n!


Okay.....On an entirely different note....a HUGE thank you to Robin at Pensieve! This package of goodies arrived on Christmas Eve and was a blast to open! I won a giveaway that she hosted a little while back and I was thrilled that it was a scrappy a giveaway! I am super excited about that paper! I need some great ideas for these stamps...particularly the flower one, so if you have any links, I'd love 'em!



And....now for that Question to Ponder....

Do you ever wonder about the phrases that we say and how much meaning they really carry? I was thinking about something random last night and the phrase came to mind:

"That's not really the image that I'm going for."

Now mind you, this was in a silly sort of manner this time around, but when you think about it we hear this phrase quite often. So here is my question for you....do you know what "image" you ARE going for? We say things like that and it makes me wonder if we focus so much on who we are not that we loose track of who we might be. We have a great definition for all that is NOT what we want to be, but yet...when pressed, are we really able to pinpoint what we DO want to be? It was a random thought I had. Just figured I'd toss it out there for you to ponder today.

It snowed just a little last night, but in that, "Ha! Ha! I'm coming back to dump on you tomorrow!" evil sort of way and that makes me sad. I hope it is not snowing where you are.
Have a great day!

Twitter

Yup! I did it! I have officially begun to "tweet," as they say. I have a whopping 3 people following me, and I'm not 100% sure how to get people to follow you, so any suggestions or charity case workers would be greatly appreciated! LOL! So...come follow me so I can follow you and stuff. Seriously...do we ever stop to think about the way this craziness sounds when we say it out loud? LOL!

I have SO many Thank You's to do!!!

Wow! So, I took a little time off...sorry about that, but last week was just a little too nutsy for me to be online much. Anyway...I actually have quite a bit I want to share with you, but I guess I should at least attempt to spread it out a bit! LOL! I have some folks to thank, I have some stuff I made as gifts and couldn't share before, and I received some fun things I'd like to share with you, too! So, that's pretty much a summary of what you will see this week. I would toss it all into one REALLY long post, but you would get tired and then I wouldn't have much to post for the rest of the week! LOL!

First of all, I need to say a HUGE thank you to my awesome Secret Santa over at All Moments Remembered, Julie! OH MY FREAKING CHRISTMAS SCRAPPY CUPCAKE MONKEY OWL JINGLE GOODNESS!!! This was a seriously amazing package! I received it on Christmas Eve and that alone was a blessing because I needed a bit of a 'pick-me-up.' So, I got home from work and had a million little things that I still needed to do and we had to leave for Church at 6:30 to get there for 7 and then we had two parties we needed to go to after the service. I still hadn't even started my parents Christmas gift, I had a couple of little things I wanted to make for Sean and I still needed to find a gift bag or something to put my sister's gift into so that we would be ready for Christmas day. Well, I came home and there in my scrapbook room were three boxes that Sean had picked up from the office for me! How much fun is that? One of those boxes was from Jewelz and I can't even get over her generosity, her incredible thoughtfulness and her kindness! Each and every item felt as though it had been hand chosen just for me. She wrapped everything in smaller packages (I SO should have taken a pic of it before I opened it, but I totally spaced and didn't). The wrapping paper was even hand selected! It was "Jingle" bell paper and had my name written ALL over it! LOL! She included so many wonderful things! Here are some pics just to give you an idea....keep in mind...I have a few obsessions in my life...cupcakes, monkeys, owls, and "J's" of all kinds!



Okay...so you see why I was so excited! LOL! Sean was a bit confused because he kept hearing gleeful exclamations from the other room as I opened each individual package of goodness! LOL! Do you SEE that adorable little cupcake container??? Yup! The frosting part is the lid and it comes off and I can put treasures in it! Right now I have it right beside my bed, but it may end up back in my scrapbook room or somewhere else once I find something I deem worthy to be held within the cupcake!

And .... Did you see the wicked cute "Jingle" ornament? LOVING THAT! And the "Jingle Bling" cracked me up! It even comes with a little book that tells you the history of bling! LOL!

That little cupcake cookbook totally ROCKS and I can't wait to try a couple of the recipes in there! And we haven't even DISCUSSED the scrappy stuff yet! New Distress Stickles!!! Yup! I was pretty stoked about those! Sakura Souffle pens...a personal favorite of mine!!! CUPCAKE stamps!!! Need I say more? Plus, she got me the cute little holiday sets that WM is carrying and she ONLY got me the ones that I didn't already have because this girl SERIOUSLY pays attention! I was uber impressed! There are o-wires for my BIA, which I am SO excited about! There is a BUNCH of crazy cute AC ribbon, the little Jolee's cupcakes are so stinking adorable and did you see those cute little owls back there???? CUTENESS!!!!

OH! And she included a WHOLE PACK of 12x12 Kraft cardstock because I mentioned that I wanted some really nice kraft and everyone said that Hobby Lobby was the best place to get it and guess where I live...East coast, baby...no HL here! (One of the great things I miss about Denver!) I already used a sheet of it! It is just as perfect in color as everyone claims!

Plus there was Distress embossing powder, the cutest little monkey pin, that neat painted "J" which resides on the "green shelf" in my scrapbook room, an adorable handmade tin stuffed with my favorite gummy bears, another little mailbox tin stuffed with Swedish Fish (my life source) and two emergency chocolate bars in a cute cupcake purse bag thingy....OH...and let's not forget the little felt snowflake embellishments and the Jingle topper and, of course, the really cute butterfly photo box in which she stuffed most of this great stuff!

Whew! I may have missed a thing or two, but I am going off the photo, as I don't have it all in front of me, but you can see that she deserves a HUGE THANK YOU!!!!!

Here are a couple more pics for you to drool over! I hope you don't mind me sharing this. I just was really excited because this was more of a blessing than a gift. I was really touched by what Julie sent my way! Julie....thank you. You truly made a difference in my life. You did more than you know...especially right now. Thank you.





As far as Christmas morning photos...this is a good example of what I got! LOL! I think we shall call it "Puppies in Motion!" LOL!

Look What We Made!!!

Okay....I am so totally busy right now because we have to leave in like an hour and a half to go up to Manchester to do Christmas with some of the fam, but I just HAD to share with you these gifts we made! Sean did the machine sewing because...well...yeah...I still haven't learned that darned machine, and I did the design ideas and the hand stitched parts. Oh...and the card at the bottom of the post just may be one of my favorites for this year! I made four of those to add to my stack! I still can't believe I even got cards made this year! It makes me happy!



This is a Scraflette that we made for my cousin. It is fleece and comes around to button in the front. Very cute!



This is a cuddle plushie we made with the same fleece! I have never done these before and OMG!!! I am IN LOVE! I want to keep this one! LOL! It is SO adorable! We did this for my 3 year old cousin. I hope she likes it! The face is hand stitched and it is stuffed with recycled plastic grocery bags so it has a soft crinkle sound!!! I LOVE that!!!



This is her sweet little face!!!!



And THIS is the WAY cute snowman card that I just LOVE! The hat and scarf are popped up and the colors make me happy! This was the CTMH stamp of the month last month and I don't usually get excited about assembly style stamps, but this set was SO much fun to work with and they actually came together really fast, too!

Okay...so that's all, but a post on a Saturday is rare for me, so I hope you enjoyed it!!! Have a great day! It's snowing and cold here...got about 6 inches last night and it looks like it will keep up all day and into tomorrow...fun. Note the lack of exclamation points. Oh, well....at least it looks pretty for now...until the trucks hit it and it just looks gross. Okay, I'm done whining! LOL! Have a super wonderful day!

Upcycling, Creating, Gifts, Inspiration, it's pure craziness around here!!!

Wow! All I can say is that it is SO worth it to take the time to clean your space! Seriously, folks! Since I cleaned up on Wed. night I have created SO much stuff! I made another button tree just like the one I showed you yesterday for my Mom and then I made lots of other stuff that I needed to get done before Christmas! Seriously, I'm having a blast! PLUS...I am working and managing to get the time to do this stuff! It totally ROCKS! Anyway...enough of my pure ECSTATICNESS here, folks! Let's get on with the show!!!

First, I would like to show you this fabulous little recipe clip that I made as a gift for someone. I don't think she reads my blog, but just in case, I will not be telling you who things are for to protect the innocent...that would be me...yes I AM innocent...okay...all of you hush and just look at the pretties, now, K! LOL!



Ummmm...yeah....I kinda LOVE IT! Look at those crazy eyes on that owl! Isn't he just fantastic! This would make me smile if I cooked! LOL!

Next...I made two journals using my one and only awesome Bind It All! Dude, seriously, though, folks...if you don't have one of these find a way to obtain one! It is the BEST tool! It is a blast to work with and I feel like I REALLY made something whenever I use it! Too much fun!



This one is covered with Chatterbox papers and the inside pages are all natural papers. They are really pretty! I love it!!!



This one is covered with a shimmery Hambly print and the pages are all cut from a paper grocery bag! Yup! That would be me doing the whole upcycling thing, again! I love using trash to make cool stuff! It's wicked crazy fun! You should totally try it sometime!!!



And finally, I made four of these cards last night while listening to an AWESOME and much needed sermon (It's the one called "I've got you hanging around my neck." from Rob Bell. If you have never heard Rob speak, you should check out the stuff he has on that site! Life Changing! He is so good! And so REAL! Totally worth your time!

Well, I would say "that's all for today," but quite frankly that's like TONS for today, so I hope you like it all and I look forward to sharing more with you next week! I will be heading to Manchester tomorrow to do Christmas with my Mom's side of the family and then going to Mom's for a traditional Christmas Sunday lunch with the Pastor's family, and we are supposed to have the youth group Christmas party with the kids tonight, but if this storm gets in the way, we may have that on Sunday, so I guess we just have to wait and see! Have a great weekend!

Do you have holiday plans this weekend?
Have you made lots of crazy fun stuff this week?
Do you love what I made? (Yes...I'm totally fishing for compliments, but what can I say, they make me smile! LOL!)

Thanks for stopping by!

Button Christmas Trees and Tin Can Angels

Just a quick post today to share with you a couple of projects that have been done around our house this week.

I created this great this very fun cone tree on Sunday with my Kindergarten Sunday School class! The kids did a great job with theirs, but of course I forgot to take pics! I really love mine, though! LOL! I think I am going to try to whip one up for my Mom because it is a blast to make and I think she'd love it! I just punched paper circles from Chatterbox Artsy-Licious papers, then used pins to attach the paper circles with a button on top to a foam cone! Super easy and super fun! The best part - a NO adhesive project!!!



Next, I want to show you the cute angel that Sean made the other day! We received a couple of aluminum angels as a gift and thought they were cool, so Sean wanted to try his hand at them. The ones we received incorporated other materials and Sean really wanted to only use the can, so that is exactly what he did! It came out AWESOME! I love this thing!



Isn't that just adorable!!!

Finally, I wanted to share my wonderful plate and mug that I put out over the weekend that is JUST for cookies for Santa! It is a Mary Engelbreit set that my Mom got for me several years ago and I just love it! It makes me smile!



That's all for today! What have you been up to? Did you make any decorations for the season? I'd love to hear about them!