Just wanted to let you all know that I do have a card ready for posting but I'm going to post it tomorrow after my very first day of school. YAYYYYYY. It really could not have come at a better time for me. I'm just so tired after this past couple weeks. My kids go back to school tomorrow and Jason heads back to work and I'm off to my first day of classes. I will also be taking my Aunt and cousin to the airport to head back to warm sunny Miami and that will be sad. I've enjoyed having all my family here. I'll leave you with one last family photo :) Have a wonderful week!

Family

I don't usually let photos of myself be seen in public LOL but I'm going to make an exception for once. These are a couple of my favorite photos. The first one is my nephew Dustin and my niece Lexie and my daughter Andrea and the second photo is my sister and I with our daughters. I wish I had thought to get my Aunt and her daughter in on that photo. PS - my whole family is blonde including both of my children except me and my step mom LOL. We sort of stick out :)

Dottie

Tonight was the viewing for my grandmother and it turned out quite nice. My whole family was there and that was great for us all to be together instead of scattered all over. I wanted to show you one of my favorite photos of my grandmother. I think this may have been about 15 years ago or so. She always had her red lipstick on :) Wish I could wear it but I swear it ends up all over me so I stick to neutral lipgloss instead. LOL. My grandma was always very into fashion and had some awesome shoes. My niece is lucky enough to wear a size 6 so she has quite a few of her high heels now and she wore a pair tonight and they looked so great on her. We all had a nice time sharing stories and laughing over things that have happened through the years. I hope you all make many pleasant family memories as well.

New Years Resolutions?

So do you make them? Do you stick to them? I don't usually do them but I did make one last year and I'd say it worked better than I thought it would so I'm going with it again. I am choosing to work on tackling small projects once a month versus freaking out over one big task in the house. I have taken Clean House Niecy Nash to heart when she says being surrounded by clutter is not good for your life. LOL. Wow she is one true diva isn't she? I do not have a room that looks like the rooms in the houses she works on but I still have too many "things" and it's easy to think you need them all the time. I'm also making it a point to send more notes to my friends and family as well as a card. I am always good about sending a card but I think I need to do a better job remembering why that person is important to me. Whatever you decide to make as your resolution I wish you good luck in keeping it! That's the hard part for me :) I am posting one last thank you card that I made using a Christmas image. My friend Angie had this stamp and thought I would like it and of course I did. I had soooo much fun coloring it. I just look at it and laugh because it's so not traditional. I hope you all have a blessed New Year. I'm not sure when I will be back online over the next few days because the viewing for my grandma is tomorrow and the funeral is Saturday. Thank you all for your good wishes and prayers! They mean a lot to me and to my family.

Happy New Year

I don't know about you but I'm tired of boring cold icy weather. Please send me some snow. At least it's pretty too look at! Ok maybe you can wait until Sunday to send it then most of my family will be heading back down to Texas and Florida. I think they are all pretty miserable thinking they are freezzzzingggg to death. LOL. I met my step mother Celia at the airport today with my fake fur coat so she'd be warm enough. I personally am ok with winter, don't love it but I'm ok with it. I think this image from PPS is one of my favorite winter ones. I think she's dressed for the weather don't you? Our challenge for today was to use up some scrap paper and I have tons of that. Speaking of scraps does anyone have a favorite way to store it???? Ugh. The really cool flower, snowflake and button all were in my box from Tricia and wow are they pretty. I enjoyed being able to relax and make this card this week. I hope you all have a very happy and safe New Year!

CTRUS Christmas Cards

Well these are the last of the beautiful cards I needed to post. I'm involved in a small wonderful group called CardTradersRUS. We have two challenges each month and it's been a lot of fun to participate in. The nativity is from Deb, the candle from Penny (love that punch) and the penguin is from my Secret Santa Trisha. Thank you all so much for sharing your holiday with me.

I'll be back online later tonight with a PinkPaperyStudios treat!

Diva Christmas Cards

I wanted to post some more of the Christmas cards that I received. You card makers are seriously the best. I love them all! These four are from the Diva group I am on. Thank you so much Beth, Kristie, Marcia and Pat!

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Wow this week the sketch was from me! I had no idea it was my week until I realized I better get to getting on a card. It was good for me last night to sit down and work on some cards. I actually got two different thank you cards made. After Christmas I always need those don't you? The paper is so cool and it's reversible. It was in my Christmas box from my Secret Santa on the Ctrus group, the stamp was also in my box as well as the chipboard so hey my card is all from Tricia LOL. I think it worked out very nicely. Very simple yet nice for a thank you card. Hope you all have a great Tuesday. Spend it with someone you care about.

Sad News

2008 has been a very long and tiring year for me and for my family. In February we lost my maternal grandmother and my sister and I were extremely close to her. That was very difficult for us even though we know she is in a better place and no longer suffering from Alzheimers. She was 89. In October I lost my job after 20 years with the same company due to downsizing and the economy and then this past Sunday my dad's mom passed away. She turned 91 on December 19th but had been in the hospital from a stroke since the 14th. I was so close to my grandparents growing up and this has been extremely difficult to lose both of my grandmas in the same year even if it was not unexpected. She had been living down in Texas with my dad and step mom and they had been taking care of her for the past several years. I'm so thankful they were able to do that. Everyone is on the way to Indiana this week (my poor grandma she hated to fly LOL and now she is flying home)....and I think at this time the viewing is Friday and the funeral is Saturday. I have family coming from Texas and Florida so I don't know how much I'll be online after tomorrow for the rest of the week. Any prayers and good thoughts will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

I hope everyone has a had a warm safe weekend so far. We have had the strangest weather and right now we have extreme winds. My poor dogs almost flew when they went down the steps to go outside. I am going to be spending some time with my family the next couple days and I am taking a couple days off of email and blogging. Gasp. We'll have to see if I can do it :) I'll be back on Tuesday for Tuesday Template and hopefully have news on my scholarship entry. Please keep voting until 11:59pm tonight. Thank you all so much.

http://www.brickfish.com/Pages/PhotosAlbums/PhotoView.aspx?picid=712139_87714107&=PPIMEMAIL&isep=1&pbapi=-1&pbvi=48450756&pdi=2366

Please Vote!

Tomorrow is the last full day to vote for my scholarship entry. I really appreciate each and everyone helping me! Please continue to vote until 11:59pm tomorrow night. THANK YOU ALL VERY MUCH. Have a wonderful weekend.

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Before and After

You know how pretty the tree looks and the presents piled all underneath? Well I hope I am not the only one whose house looks like the aftermath of a tornado.....LOL. I wish you all a good safe weekend! We have more icy rain coming. UGH. This morning we had rain and thunder and lightning. I don't think I've ever seen that the day after Christmas. What a mess.

Christmas Day

WOW what a day it's been here. Someone please tell me that your house looks like a freaking tornado went through the living room just like mine does......I'll seriously feel better at that point. LOL. My kids loved all the gifts they received and so do I. My husband always picks out things that are special in some way or another to me. Sometimes they are funny and sometimes useful but either way he does a fabulous job helping the kids as well get just the right things. I will share more on that later but for today I wanted to post some more beautiful cards I have received from some very special online friends. Today is a day to be thankful for our family and our friends and I really have some of the best. The joy card is from Delia and the Santa card is from Joani and both are on the Diva group with me. The poinsettia card is from Lori on the CTRUS group. I just think they are all so pretty! I hope you enjoy your Christmas day wherever you are.

Christmas RAK's

I know with Christmas being tomorrow I'll be up bright and early with my family so I wanted to post a couple more cards tonight. These both came from the RandomActsOfKindess yahoo group I am on and they are so sweet. The little girl is from Teresa and the PinkPaperyStudios card came from Danni. I just had to post them tonight so you could see another card using the same fun digital image. I'm off until tomorrow sometime. Have a wonderful Christmas!

Easy Card PPS DT

Today our challenge for the PinkPaperyStudios design team was to make an easy card. Since it was Christmas Eve we just needed to do something that was easy for us. Well (LOL) I already had colored this image so it was pretty easy to put together a very simple card using it. I hope that wherever you are you have a very Merry and Blessed Christmas!

Secret Santa

On the DT for PinkPaperyStudios we each had a Secret Santa and I wanted to show you the really pretty cards I received. They are so cool. One has felt on it and the other two are dimensional and pop up. I can't even choose I love them all :) I hope you have a great Christmas Eve.

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Today our sketch comes from Maria and I think it's a very fun easy one to do. It took me no time at all to whip this up LOL. Seriously I forgot to do the sketch and had to do some quick running around to get it out today. I think the whole thing of having no power off and on set me back and now I'm forgetting things. My family will be here tomorrow for Christmas Eve and trust me I'm not ready yet. I hope you all have a blessed Christmas! Be sure to check out the other Tuesday Template blogs for even more fun!

Snoopy Loves Christmas

This is another of the Charlie Brown cards I made this year. I sent these to one of the yahoo groups I am on...........this photo was taken when we had no power and just natural light coming in the windows so it's not as bright as usual. We've had days without power and days with power so I'm keeping my fingers crossed we stay on today. I guess there are still 50,000 people without power here so I'm one of the lucky ones. I hope you all stay warm and safe today!

Staying Warm

Thank goodness the power is back on. It's flipping cold here. On Friday it wasn't so bad with no power because it was NOT 2 DEGREES OUTSIDE. Yeah I'm freezing today. When we got up this morning I knew the cats were cold but I only had Emily and Morgan with me and I was pretty sure Oliver was with my son. Yep Oliver knows how to stay warm. LOL. They were already downstairs on the couch all tucked in. I'm working on taking some card photos and getting them loaded so I'll have card posts tomorrow. In the meantime I hope you all are staying warm and toasty wherever you are! Be safe. In the meantime I just went and check out our local weather............ITS 2 DEGREES OUTSIDE. And where is the snow? Hmmmmmm. Not here. Just ice. LOL.

No Power :(

We lost our power again this morning so I am going to just make a quick post. I have cards to post later. I received some lovely Christmas cards again yesterday and some from the Pinkpaperystudios DT secret santa. I love them and I am a lucky girl! WOW it's cold and windy here today and I have been out and I know all the electric companies and contractors are doing what they can to get it back up and working. I wish they can get it all done quickly so they can get back home too!

Christmas Time

I've been so blessed by my online friends. I had to share some more beautiful cards that I have received. They are just all so fabulous! The santa is from Linda, the ornaments are from Maria,

and the snow card is from Melinda. Aren't they all so pretty? Maria and Melinda also participate in the Tuesday Template each week with me. Make sure to check out their cards each week. Have a wonderful weekend and lets hope I keep electricity today!

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Ice Storm

WOW it's been quite a day. We have had a very bad ice storm and had no electricity for the past 12 hours. Right after we made a hotel arrangement for tonight our neighbor called my cell phone and said it came back on. Doesn't that just crack you up? Seriously we had our bags in the van, the dogs loaded and on our way to the last hotel room in town and they called LOL. Well hey I saved my money this way and I'm thankful to be home in my own house. I took these photos of our yard this morning. We had planted new trees this year and I'm not really sure they are going to make it now. I can only hope for spring to help them out. Our poor bird feeders looked like they were going to fall over with the weight of the ice but they are still haning tough. Last but not least a BIG THANK YOU TO CASSIE who sent me the link to add snow to my blog. Isn't it so cool? I just love it. It was a fun surprise to open my email and find that! :) I hope you all are having better weather where you are.

Thursday Travel

This week I picked up my books and my schedule for school and now I'm nervous LOL. I have both Medical Terminology as well as Anatomy at the same time ugh. I hope my brain works! I'm nervous but excited. I have three classes and go three days a week so I will still have a couple free days to work and do homework. It will be funny because the first day of my classes is the same day my kids go back to school after the Christmas break so we will all go off to school together. I better get some serious stamping time the next couple of weeks ;)

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FUN Snowman Tutorial
http://myblogbycammie.blogspot.com/2008/10/punchy-snowman.html

PinkPaperyStudios DT Challenge

This week the challenge for the DT for Pinkpaperystudios was to make a card and use background paper that you make using stamps. This is not my favorite thing to do LOL but I had a very simple plan and it worked out pretty well ;) I liked the layout for the card I did yesterday so I used something like that again and then used my Colorbox Frost White ink and embossed snowflakes onto SU Night Of Navy cardstock. This image was so much fun to download and play with. One thing I like about digital stamping is that you can adjust the size of the image.
This image is again from one of my favorite lines and it's called Simply Wonderland...you can find it here. I colored her with my copics and used my cuttlebug, added some ribbon and poof she was done in no time. Makes me wish we had some more snow here! LOL. Have a great week!

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