HAPPY NEW YEAR

Where did the time go??? I can't believe it's the last day of 2009. Twenty-ten just sounds so weird. It sounds Jetson and spaceage. LOL Good luck writing the new year on your checks, for those who still use checks, that is.

Do you have plans to party? Not us. Randy will likely be sleeping long before midnight, and I'll watch the clock turn over then probably stand on the porch and watch the neighbors shoot of fireworks in the middle of the street. :) That's enough celebration for me! LOL

If you'll be out and about, please be safe.

Love you,
Shar

God bless us all this Christmas day. Happy holidays everyone!

The True Spirit of Christmas

This is the story of my most cherished Christmas memory. I still can’t tell this story without tears in my eyes. I sent this letter to the local newspaper several years ago.

*******

The Key Peninsula/Gig Harbor area has been home to me and my family for 34 of my 43 years. During those years, I have donated clothing, household items, and food to local food banks as much as I can throughout the year, never expecting, of course, that I would one day be in need myself.

Several years ago, my daughters and I fell on hard times and the holidays seemed bleak. By Thanksgiving, I still had not found employment. The girls had just entered high school, and though they had never asked much for Christmas even in good times, I felt despair in knowing I would not be able to give them much of anything that year. We did our best while I continued looking for work, but finally had to seek help from a local food bank to make ends meet. A short while later, we received a call from the food bank telling us a local family wished to “adopt” us for Christmas. About that same time, my job search finally paid off and my first day of work was to be December 20.

That day, we woke to several inches of snow on the ground and no power. I had no way to get to my new job and no number to call them. We were not the only ones snowed in, however. The food bank was unable to deliver Christmas to many adopted families. Though the families and the adoptees generally remain anonymous to each other, our “family” decided that if it meant the difference between our having or not having a Christmas, they would make the delivery personally. Not only did our family bring gifts in abundance, they also delivered a van full of groceries, including laundry and cleaning supplies, and everything imaginable for Christmas dinner. As if that wasn’t enough, this wonderful man drove me to my new job and later called to find out what time I finished so he could drive me back home!

This true story of the spirit of Christmas always brings tears to my eyes. We never heard from our adoptive family again. We understand they left the area some time ago, but their gift of love and generosity will never be forgotten. That Christmas, which looked so dismal, remains one of our most cherished and treasured holiday memories.

Isaiah 58:7a
...Share your bread with the hungry,
and bring the homeless into your house.

You are Brightly Optimistic

During the holidays, you're the one who has a bit of cheer for everyone. Even when things get hectic and chaotic, you keep on smiling. You believe it's important to have a spirit of generosity and gratitude all the time... but especially this time of year. You get more satisfaction from giving than receiving. You're always going out of your way to improve someone's day a little.

The Christmas Tree Test

Blogthings: Quizzes and Tests and Memes, Oh My!

Road Trip

That's what the new QuicKutz release should have been named, IMO. They're calling it a travel theme, but when I think travel, I think airplanes and cruise ships. This release is all about rv's, tents, vans and road signs. And no motorcycle, surprisingly! I think they "missed the boat" (pun intended! LOL) not including a motorcycle in this release....a real one, not a scooter. LOL


I used the 2x2 road sign and 2x2 luggage for this bookmark.

For this card I've used the billboard cookie cutter set on a card for the hubster. This is one of my favorites of the entire release. It's almost nostalgic.

Inside I've used the 2x2 road sign and hotel vacancy sign. In addition, I've used the nesting hearts, universal people shapes and numbers from last month's calendar release.

This release gave me just what I've been looking for to scrap some of my vacation pics from last year. Page one is San Diego, and page two is Waikiki. Multiple photo pages are hard for me, but obviously these need to be together and I think they worked well here. I used the road sign, hotel sign and part of the billboard set for the title, in addition to the California state die, journaling circle, and Santa's Workshop alphabet.

Keeping the same theme for page two of this layout, I again used the hotel sign, arrow from the billboard set, and also this month's QK club tag die, along with the Hawaii state die, 4x4 circle sunshine, and Santa's Workshop alphabet.

Christmas checklist.......

Ok, let's see. How are you doing with your list? Are you whittling things down and feeling good about how much you've crossed off? I'm feeling great about mine, considering I've been sick for the past two weeks. What a crappy time to get sick huh! But I've been as busy as I can be as I have felt up to it and I'm almost there.


Welcome! My festive wreath greets you at the front door.

On the porch is my pine cone and ornament basket. With the new ornaments being the lightweight, shatterproof type, I've had to bring the basket in off the porch a couple of times on windy days. The ornaments are so light they had been tossed all over the front yard! LOL Sure looks pretty though, doesn't it.

Just inside the front door, these styrofoam tree decorations site on my candle sconces. I used the QuicKutz cupcake liner die to decorate the trees using papers in the color scheme of the living room and decorations.

My dining table centerpiece. I'd like to add greenery on the table around the glass bowls. Maybe the florist will have what I want.....I won't know what that is until I see it, however.

And the Christmas tree. I love my tree. I've added more ornaments and also found a topper since I posted the previous pics.

I was so sure I'd never be able to catch up, but CHECK it out!!! Oh my gosh, venturing out to shop and take advantage of the deals on Black Friday was so worth it.

tree up and decorated - CHECK!
decorations up - CHECK!
three kinds of cookies made - CHECK!
two kinds of fudge and candy made - CHECK!
caramel corn done - CHECK!
gifts wrapped - CHECK!
packages mailed - CHECK!
online gifts ordered for Dec. 21 delivery - CHECK!
Christmas newsletter written and printed - CHECK!
Christmas cards signed and labeled - CHECK!

Actually, I don't have a lot left to do once the post office delivers my stamps, hopefully tomorrow. Christmas cards can then go in the mail and that will be the last big thing to cross off the list!!! Now I wonder if I am forgetting something. :{ LOL

I hope you will be ready with time to spare so you can relax and enjoy a little free time before Christmas. Have some caramel corn. It's the best!

Caramel Corn

6 cups popped corn, remove unpopped kernels
¾ cup packed brown sugar
6 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons light karo syrup
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon vanilla
¼ teaspoon salt

Put popcorn in extra large bowl. In 1 ½ quart saucepan, combine sugar, butter, corn syrup, and salt. Cook and stir over medium heat till butter melts and mixture comes to boiling. Boil without stirring for 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in baking soda and vanilla. Pour over popcorn and gently stir to coat all pieces. Bake at 250º for 10 minutes. Stir. Bake 5 more minutes. Remove to large bowl. Cool and store in plastic Ziploc or airtight plastic container with lid.

Still alive, but moving pretty slowly

Hello friends. I'm sorry for the long delay in posting. I've been since for weeks and it finally just took me down. I've been on meds for some time now with another week to go and feeling better every day. Started with a cold on Thanksgiving and while I went to the doc to get help to prevent it from going this far, my doc was not in that day and the one who 'treated' me didn't really. Long story short, I've been on breathing treatments and prednisone for asthma that got way out of hand. Not only was I rather peeved, but my doc was also really miffed that it wasn't treated when I first when in for help. But we're working on it now and I'm getting there. Hopefully by the end of the weekend I'll be closer to 100% again. I sure hope so......it's Christmas time and I have way too much stuff to do to be spending all this time coughing, sleeping and being sick!!

Hope you're staying warm where it's cold and enjoying the Christmas spirit whereever you are! Thanks so much for all your good thoughts. :)

Do you like it!

I love my Christmas tree. The colors photographed pretty true -- the ornaments are lime green, copper and chocolate brown with burgandy and cream ribbons (which you can't really see). And I always get wrapping paper to match the color scheme of my tree. I'm picky (ok anal!) that way. :)

A little closer view. Randy and I made some of the snowflakes a few years ago. I printed them from dingbat fonts to use as templates and Randy cut them out for me on his scrollsaw. I sanded and painted them and hung them on the tree with fishing line. They turned out beautifully.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

QK Black Friday release dies

I must admit, I didn't think I'd use the cupcake liner die but when I received it for my Design Team assignment with Scrapbuggy , I had so much fun with it! Think outside the box and see just how versatile it can be. Here I've used jack-o-lantern paper for my spiced pumpkin cupcake liners. I cut the bracket page of the sugarplum mini book on the fold and printed the cupcake recipe inside. On the outside I added the 3d rev pumpkin and embellished with ribbon.

I even cut one of the liners upside down and wrapped it around the base of my cake stand for a little something extra. Cute, huh.

For this card I used the cupcake liner as a border. Pretty cute! For the message I used the new release Katie Grand alphabet and embellished with the 2x2 butterfly popped with foam tape.

This page was so much fun. I love this picture of Gia and me at the QuicKutz retreat in Utah!! The pic was taken by Amy Walton as we were on our way to our room at the hotel. What a fun way to meet for the first time, huh. :) For this page I used the new calendar set to emphasize that date. I used Katie Grand for the title. I love that font and what a phenomenal value this one is. Don't pass this one up or you'll be sorry when they are gone!

I used stickles glitter glue to add sparkle to the embellishments that come with the Katie alphabet.

Once again I wanted to show the versatility of the cupcake liner. I've used it here as a sort of scalloped border along with the "real" scallop border, flowers from the Epic6 frame die, and the Katie Grand alphabet. This is my friend, Darla, whom I've known for 7 or 8 years. She inspires me in so many ways and is just the sweetest person. We have yet to meet in person, but we WILL meet someday!

I added stickles and purple bling to the flower especially for Darla. :)

Birthday theme projects

When Sally was a teenager we had quite a tumultuous mother-daughter releationship. She was the stereotypical rebellious one and at the time I was a single mom...we definitely had our moments! One of my friends even dubbed her "Trouble Girl". And it sort of stuck...with affection. LOL

For this layout of Sally's 14th birthday, I've used the adorable Sweet Stack and Bazzill Swiss Dot papers. Arrows, candle numbers and stars are Quickutz, scallop border was cut on the Cricut Expression, lacy border is the Martha Stewart, Doily Lace punch.

Again using the Sweet Stack papers, I made this gift card holder/birthday card using the Wintergreen album from the Quickutz Holiday gift set, matching scallop spine and pocket page add-on pieces, Chicken Noodle alphabet and 2x2 present dies. Tie it all together with ribbon and you have a quick and easy gift.

Layout using the Scrapbuggy Quickitz, scallop border, cloud border, and Oatmeal alpha. Sorry for the funky shadow. That happens when the scan is lumpy.


Here I've used the Sugarplum minibook cover and bracket spine to make this get well card using the QuicKitz papers and "feel better soon" flair button.

I used the exclusive flourish border, MaryJane alphabet (L) and biography alphabet with the QuicKitz papers and "I love you" flair button for this card.

For this project I've used the Wintergreen mini album with the Scrapbuggy QuicKitz. I love the papers in this kit--lucky me, I got to help choose! Pattern papers and embellishments from the American Crafts Letterbox collection, and yummy-licious Bazzill cardstock. Other QK used for this project are the pop up windows, Santa's Workshop Alphabet and label from the Santa's Workshop Holiday Gift Set, the Paperdoll alphabet and for the cover, QK adhesive backed white chipboard. I love that stuff.


There is a page for each of the grandkids...


...with their name and meaning on the window...




....and their photo behind.


This little joke book was so much fun to make. When my dd was little and barely talking, she loved telling jokes and I've used a few of her favorites in this book. I used the Sugarplum mini album and spines set for this one along with the pop up windows.




Here are a few of the jokes I've included inside:

I love goofy kid jokes and these are just a few. Using the binder rings on the book makes it easy to add more pages later once they've memorized these and want some new laughs. ;)