22 Days

If you're thinking of doing an Advent Calendar this year for December.. you realize you better get started now!!! There's only 22 days before December arrives...  ahhhhh!!!

Here's darling Advent Calendar I found using a shadow box. It's made using a Silhouette Cameo which is an electronic cutting tool device that connects to your computer like a printer, but instead of printing designs it cuts them with a small blade.  And  if you're serious about craft projects, you're gonna have to ask Santa to bring you one of those.... or find an extra $300 sitting around somewhere...

You can embellish the drawers and boxes however you want...

You can order the Advent Calendar shadow box  for $40 from Silhouette website.

I didn't mean for this to be a plug for Silhouette... cuz I really think we could just have Jerry make us a shadowbox and use our Big Shot to create the boxes and treasures for the shadowbox... right???

What's the saying, imitation if the highest form of flattery... right?

Lost in the Shuffle

Before we know it Thanksgiving will be here... ya know I always feel sorry for Thanksgiving... seems everyone gets all geared up for Halloween and the festivities of pumpkin carving and dreaming up what costumes they'll be wearing... as much as I don't care for Halloween, it really is the start of the holiday season and gets just about everyone ready in anticipation of what's to come... and who's on the naughty and nice list...


So Thanksgiving kinda gets lost in the shuffle between all the festivities.. and to be perfectly honest, it's probably the most important holiday we really have... a chance to express our thankfulness for everything God has given us. Yes we should be doing that every day, just like Christmas, we should be remembering Jesus every day, but it's good to set aside the time dedicated just to do that.


So I find once again a darling Gratitude card... easily made with an elegant look from Nancy Leedy featuring the beautiful Spice Cake designer paper which goes so well with a palette of soft greens....

The base is Soft Suede cardstock, layered with River Rock stamped with Pear Pizzazz. The embossed oval is made with the Designer Frames embossing folders.

She sponged the edges with homemade Champagne Shimmer mist and popped out the sentiment from Day of Gratitude with the Extra Large Oval punch, adding a Linen Thread and Chantilly crochet trim bow.

The real stars are the leaves she made out of Pear Pizazz and Soft Suede cardstock with the Leaves #2 die.  They were embossed with the Finial Press and Square Lattice embossing folders, sponged in Soft Suede and spritzed with Shimmer Mist.  It's amazing that they're still standing after all that "distressing"!

Lastly, she finished the inside with one of the [retired] stamp sets Seasonal Sentiments adding another Creative Elements flourish behind and sponging the edges.

Did you really read the sentiment? Cuz it's TRUE....

Sending Thanksgiving Wishes with

Gratitude & Appreciation for you!

Miss You Beary Much!

Oops.. ... sorry I'm late posting today... guess I can blame it on being a lazy Saturday morning.. right?? Don't believe that? ok.. so yesterday I was off work and participated in a Holiday Boutique at a local elementary school for fund raising. I sold several cards, a gob of Make n'Take gift card holders and boxes (mostly the ones with candy in them!), a few catalogs, and nearly all my Christmas themed paper projects. Too bad it was such a rainy day as I think many parents didn't bother coming into the auditorium because of it... but we did get consistent traffic early morning, at lunch break. again right after school was out and lastly when parents were picking up kids from ESS.

There were about 18 of us with quite a variety of merchandise... and I got so lucky as the gal who rented the table next to me canceled last minute, so the organizer let me use her table too.. good thing cuz I never would have fit it all on one six foot table... There were also booths for Pampered Chef, Tupperware, Mary Kay, Cookie Lee, Secret Garden, Scholarship Books, Batter Up Bakery, Jackie's Jams, Selada Jewelry, Thirty One. There was a gal there also who customized t-shirts, mostly for kids which were very cute.. of course she had a Thomas the Train shirt so I bought it for Brayden (shhh don't tell), Cookie Lee also got a few of my bucks and I love my new Raisinberry lipstick from Mary Kay..... ok yes I admit, I spent more than I made... think we were all each other's best customers! 

But one good thing I got about a dozen new contacts of gals who were interested in attending some of my classes... spent the day with a lot of really nice gals, so that was well worth it.... And it's a small world... The Cookie Lee lady was the same one who did a party for Evie I went to several years ago, the Jackie's Jam lady is the same one who comes to Qualcomm every Monday for our Farmer's Market and the Mary Kay lady was a friend from church... too funny.

So please forgive me for being late today on posting... I do miss you beary much and here's a cute card to prove it...

There's DOTS everywhere on this card! The Whisper White Cardstock is embossed with the polka dot Embossing Folder and then brayered with Early Espresso.  The Brown dotted paper is from the Berry Blossoms DSP.  And of course there are dots around the oval, on his paw and centers on the flowers of the ribbon.

Here’s the recipe for the bear by Linda Fisher.

Ears – 1/2'” circle and the circle punch from the Itty Bitty Punch Pack (3/8”).
Head – 1” circle and the small oval punch.
Eyes – tear shaped pieces cut from your scalloped oval punch
Nose – any tiny heart shaped punch, mouth was drawn free handed.
Body – 11/4” circle and the inside of his belly was either the 1” or a 7/8” circle punch.  Either would be fine.
Foot – 1/2” circle punch with a tiny heart for the center and tiny dots punch from any punch that you might have on hand that would produce these.  Example:  the dots from your border eyelet punch would work.

The flower is made with the Boho Blossoms Punch and the stem is from the Two Step Bird Punch.

 

The inside ~

                   

Thank you BEARY much for stopping by today

and I hope this sweet little bear helped to brighten

your day in some small way.



Pilgrim Duo

Now here's a serious pilgrim duo... I can't help but wonder what they're thinking... or even better what's hiding behind their back... suppose it's pumpkin pie? or perhaps a new Stampin' Up punch.... cuz that's what you'll need to make more of this cute couple...

For the woman:

Face - ornament in blush blossom

Nose - 1/2 inch circle in blush blossom

Eyes - large heart Heart to Heart (in white, trimmed), standard hole punch in black (and don't forgot the white gel pen highlight in the eyes)

Body - ornament in Basic Gray

Skirt - 2 1/2 inch circle (Circle Scissor Plus) in Basic Gray cut off bottom

Apron - 1.75 circle punch re-punched with scallop border, strip of white for waist band

Collar - 1 3/8 circle, cut

Arms - Basic Gray - small oval, toss the oval keep the hole, punch around hole with wide oval

Shoes - Butterfly punch cut in half

Hat - 1 3/8 circle in black.  In white punch part of a 1.75 circle - toss the part - keep the hole.  Punch the wide oval around the hole so you just get the curved strip for her hat front.

For her handsome husband:

his body is the 1 3/4 circle

his thighs are the small oval punch

his calves are the word window in white

his shoes are half a butterfly trimmed just a tiny bit.

his hat brim looks like a word window but it is actually longer

• To make the longer hat brim - cut a strip 3/8 inch wide with your paper trimmer - insert just the end into the word window (feed from the punch opening into the slit) -  round one end ,then do it again to round the other end. 

his buckle on hat and shoes is just like the chain link

his collar,cuffs, and top of his hat are all freehand

I don't have to tell ya where I found this one...

yup... Ellen Kemper's blog.

Winner Winner... Chicken Dinner!

Found this super simple recipe for Chicken Breast.... so just wanted to share it with everyone...

Bacon Wrapped Chicken Breast

4-6 chicken breasts pounded and flattened

6 sliced thick sliced bacon

(Recommend using a pepper type)

6 thin sliced swiss cheese

lemon pepper seasoning

garlic salt

seaon salt

fresh ground pepper

Directions:

Season the chicken with seasoning

Lay swiss cheese on top and roll up

Cover with bacon strips and close with toothpicks.

Grill on Barbecue turning continuously to cook through!

YUMMMMM

Dinner is Served!

Simply Simple

Don't ya love it when something is so simple that it's elegant? Well this card proves it... I think it's just the perfect blend of colors and texture... Chat shared this on her blog.

Even the Recipe is Simple....

Stamps:  Raining Flowers, Friendly Phrases
Ink:         Basic Black, Pool  Party, Lucky Limeade, In Color DSP, Pattern DSP
Acces:    Seam binding ribbon, button, hemp
Tools:     Big Shot, square lattice EF, dimensionals

I especially love the variety of strips

that gives it what I call the popcycle-fence appearance...

just too cute!

Happy Birthday David!

May your day be filled with laughter and love and your year ahead be filled with gifts from God!

We love you David and are so very proud of you and the young man you've become; a wonderful husband and a tremendous father. You mean so much to us and we are so grateful to God for you; compassionate in heart and filled with a spirit bursting with an obvious love for your family, willing to stand up for the things you believe in and able to leap tall buildings with a single bound... oh wait.. I'm mixing that up with someone else ... hee hee hee... we love you with the love of the Lord!

Here's some special pictures from our surprise BBQ we had for David on Saturday....

We also celebrated Don's birthday which was last week...

And Don's brother Greg, was in town, celebrating his birthday

too which was the the week before Don's...

 Holly was the stinker who planned the special surprise...

Allen and Sarah

(we were so excited to meet Sarah for the first time!)

 Marty and Maggie

(a very special surprise for David that Holly had arranged)

Claire and Noah

(I almost got him to smile)

Brayden... just waking up from his nap...

Jerry BBQ'd hamburgers and hot dogs and

we all had a nice time chatting and catching up.

After everyone had left, we got some special time with Brayden...

 I tried getting a "generation" picture, with Bradyen on the

wooden rocking horse that Jerry made for our boys some 35+ years ago....

He's still way more interested in the TV remote.... now mind you the TV was never on... he just loves carrying it around and pointing it at the TV... what power!

 

He's growing taller now...

can reach the door knobs so it's all eyes on Brayden...

David told us one day last week he had left Brayden playing in the gated TV room and had quicky gone out to his truck to get something.... seconds later.. there was Brayden in the driveway.. he had opened the baby gate in the TV room, opened the front door to the house.. and wandered out to find David.... goodness!

This is too funny... not sure he had ever seen a phone with a cord on it.. and why he thought it was something to do wearing it around his neck....

(yes we still have our "Princess" phone from the '70s.. and we still use it!)

 or draping it around his arms..

We were pretty tickled that he's nearly mastered the stairs now...

can at least come down without assistance... 

he's ok as long as he can hold on to the wall..

Back to the rocking horse....

Think he's getting the hang of it!

Happy Birthday David...

your legacy lives on through this precious

gift God has given us all!