Happy Blogiversary Carol!

Greetings fellow bloggers and friends!  Head over to Stampin' Hot in Arizona to celebrate four years of blogging with Carol.  She has goodies to give away and you don't want to miss out on your chance.

    

You could win!  Leave a comment on Carol's blog for your chance.  Hurry, hurry, hurry!!!

Christine's Coloring Challenge

Happy New Year!

I have been visiting my friend Christine's blog where she is hosting a coloring challenge.  We have been discussing different mediums for coloring our digis and stamp art.  My favorites are water color pencils and water color crayons.  We also have been discussing our other favorite things to use on our art.  I love using ribbons, lace, stickles, and my favorite color pink.  My card today features all of these elements.

So here is where I like to work- right at the dining room table.  In front of me is a make-up rack that I won at the Shiawassee County Fair many years ago.  It keeps me organized so I don't lose stuff while I'm working.  Also today I am watching a movie on my new Kindle Fire while I work.  Behind me are carts with supplies for card-making and scrapbooking.  I'd like to use one of my eight spare rooms upstairs and keep my dining room neat, but we don't heat and air condition them on an everyday basis.  I'm hoping to install a half bath upstairs- then I would probably move my stuff up there and use a space heater.  

Here is a close up of my card.  I used a Maybelle R O image that was from TAC.  The sentiments are also from a TAC set called "Happy Leaf".  The image is colored with water color crayons, by using water colors I was able to create what is know in the cat world as "dilute tortie".  I used a grey and crumb color and blended them together where they meet.  The cupcake paper is fussy cut from foil gift wrap and the cupcake is iced with stickles.  I got to use my new corner punch that I got for Christmas and of course- lace and ribbon.  

More of my favorite things (people)! 

I have to brag about these cuties!

This is my grandniece Lila, and granddaughter Addison with her doll Lily wearing their matching Christmas dresses.  These sweet girls celebrated Christmas at our house on New Year's Eve.  Then spent the night and we all went to church together on New Year's Day.  What a joy to have to use two pews to seat the 12 of us!  Of course they wore their new dresses.  So cute! 

Merry Christmas!

Good morning to my blogger friends and Christmas greetings!  Take a moment to remember why we celebrate, it's not just about the gifts and the food, it's the Savior who came to live among us. 
    Last night my husband and I went to a Christmas program at which my band members were performing.  The three older boys were in a skit about ants.  A man had found an anthill in his garden and he wished to warn the ants that their home would soon be destroyed.  He shouted to them, he left them a note but nothing he did influenced the ants, who continued to go about their ant business.  After some thought the man realized that if he were an ant that they would accept his message, so he became an ant and led them to safety.  Jesus came to live among us so that he could tell us what we need to do to be saved. 
    Sadly, there are still many who do not accept  him.  I hope this Christmas that you know that there is a Holy God who loves you so much that he sent his only Son, Jesus.  Jesus came because we have a sin problem that can only be fixed by accepting Jesus' gift of salvation- not just by being "good".
    So a very Merry Christmas dear friends, may God's love dwell in your home all year!

Minuet

 

Think Spring!

Whew!  I have been on the go all day, making and wrapping presents, baking cookies, taking care of laundry.  But I found time to make a card for the TAC blog hop while the cookies were in the oven.  Spice snap cookies smell SO good and they make the whole house smell yummy.  Oh, back to the blog hop- The theme was to either use Phillis Harris, or Soft Pencil stamps that were in the TAC catalog.  I recently acquired the Soft Pencil set "Brighten Your Day" and it is so cute!  

I stamped the image with Palette Noir ink and colored it with CTMH watercolor pencils.  I embellished it with stickles.  The sentiment "Think Spring"  is from another TAC set "Lots of Words".  The colors on the image are richer than in the photo.  Someday I'm gonna learn how to take good pictures.  So, is it too early to think spring?  Maybe a little early, but we will soon be longing for those spring flowers.

Check out the other creations on the hop and maybe join in.
Have a creative day and MERRY CHRISTMAS!

 

For Unto Us

Greetings dear friends, I guess it's been awhile since I have posted.  I have been busy making Christmas presents and getting our nine bedroom home ready for what we call 2nd Christmas.  We celebrate both Christmas day and the week after so that my sons can also have Christmas with their girlfriends' families.  My sister will also be here and her youngest son and his family.  Probably about 12 guests for overnight.  Good thing we have a huge house!
Do you have all your Christmas cards made and mailed?  My husband has promised to help me today by addressing the envelopes.  He has never helped before so this will be interesting.
So, on to the blog hop:  I recently received my first order of Unity stamps and I was anxious to be able to participate in one of their hops.  This hop is called "Let it Snow".

This was hard to photograph because of all the sparkly stuff.  The background paper is from DCWV Christmas Stack, I spritzed it with some shimmer.  The "snow" is card stock which I ripped and then applied Tulip Glitter Diamond fabric paint, there are three layers so it looks like drifted snow.  The image is "For Unto Us"  from Unity stamped with SU's Soft Suede.  I trimmed around the stable then "fingerpainted" it with gold stickles.  It is tucked behind the first layer of "snow".  The star that was with the stable was too delicate to trim around so I used punches to make the Nativity star- four small maple leaves with silver stickles and a flower with gold stickles.  Of course in the middle is a clear gem.  The other stars and snowflakes have more glitter paint and clear stickles.  Again, I apologize for my lack of photography skills, this looks much better in person.

More Hops:
Quirky crafts
For Fun Challenges
Crafts and Me
Stampin' Sisters in Christ (my birthday is Dec. 26th, and even my mom forgets sometimes lol)
Lollipop Crafts
Totally Gorjuss
The Squirrel and the Fox
Sparkles Forum
Polly Craft