I Hope You Had a Good Christmas

I hope everyone had a good Christmas. Tim and I had a nice one with our friends. We always go to Christmas Eve service with our friends. I love singing the carols - though the Lutherans have different words and extra verses. I love the candlelight blessing on the steps of the church. After church, Tim and I came home and made fondue. Our cheese fondue separated, but still was tasty. The dessert one was to die for.

Christmas morning I got up and did my walk and Tim rode his bike. I made sausage balls and artichoke spinach dip to take to our friends. We always have a great time with them on Christmas Day. This year we watched Grease, and us ladies sang all the words while the guys just cringed. I came home with too many of the cookies I took. The leftover sausage balls went in the freezer and there is still some dip left.

Now really, who can beat all that good holiday food and spending time with friends?

The Christmas cards I sent this year were made with a clear transparency as the base. I used my Big Shot to cut the Top Note out of SU Creamy Caramel that I stamped for the inside and the little Ruby Red bird on the Old Olive ribbon on the outside. I love making and sending Christmas cards. And I'm all ready thinking about next year's design.

Santa's Workshop is Busy

I've been very busy crafting Christmas presents and tasty goodies. The bedroom project put me behind so the gifts I have to ship are going to be late. Last weekend I did get all 75 Christmas cards completed and mailed. I also spent some time in the kitchen making peanut clusters and Spritz cookies. I hope Santa likes the cookies.

During the week I have been knitting dishcloths. For a couple of ladies I work with I have boxes with two jars of the jam I made this summer, a dishtowel I purchased, and a matching handmade dishcloth. I've also been working on a pretty gift for my mother. I'll share pictures after Christmas because she reads this blog. This afternoon I can not put off any longer making aprons for my nieces and their dolls.

Holiday Card Production

I have the day off today (I worked Saturday) so I am busy working on my Christmas cards. I'm making about 75 this year, all one design. I've got all the pieces cut and this morning I finished all the stamping. Now I have to work on assembly. And addressing envelopes.

The other day I needed a bookmark so I grabbed a few of my supplies that were out for the Christmas cards and made this cute one. The base is SU Bordering Blue with Chocolate Chip. Then I used the Big Shot to cut out the little birdie in Ruby Red and added a piece of dark olive ribbon. I'm reading We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver. Shriver is an incredible author.

First Day of School

This fall, my sister-in-law Nikki sent me the cutest pictures of my niece and nephew on the first day of school. Hannah's best friend lives next door and they ride the school bus together. Matthew still goes to preschool and he rides "the daddy bus". I had found the back to school paper and chipboard (the pencil, A+ and school bus) at Big Lots this summer and was waiting for pictures to scrap. I used SU Pumpkin Pie for the back ground of each layout and used Old Olive, Summer Sun, Brocade Blue and a touch of Close to Cocoa. On Hannah's page I added a little bit of ribbon and on Matthew's page I used some eyelets.

A Long and Busy Week

Tim and I celebrated our 15th anniversary yesterday. Love you honey. Since we took a big trip this summer we didn't have the money to go anywhere to celebrate our anniversary. So we both took the week off and stayed home and redid our love nest - sorry - bedroom. We picked out a new comforter and then pick the paint. We pulled the wallpaper off and scrubbed the walls. Then we primed and painted two coats. Tim also replaced a broken window. Then we pulled up the carpet and padding and I removed a bazillion staples from the floor and scrubbed the hardwood. Tim put quarter round moulding down. The room is almost back together but we did get to sleep in our bed last night. It was ALOT of work, but so worth it. I've saved our shopping lists, paint chips and piece of old wall paper for the scrapbook.