{Look at these beauties!}

OK----clearly, my last post was written and "edited" (and I use that quite loosely) with too little sleep. I wasn't using my computer---I was using Caitlin's and I'm not too familiar with a mac---I'd like to be, but for now, I'm not! Anyway, I wrote it LATE on Christmas Eve (or early Christmas morning) but couldn't get the pictures to go where I wanted them--so I waited until Christmas day to post. This meant that I needed to change it up a bit, because "last night" was no longer the 23rd, but the 24th and the morning was already over....etc. Anyway, I read through it today and was horrified---I'll do better, I promise!!!

So, back to these!!! These are Copic markers---they are a tool used in papercrafting that I've wanted for awhile, and my sweet husband bought them for me for Christmas! Did I mention that he was sweet? He's the best! These markers will make me color like Debbie Olson or Sharon Harnist. OK, OK, I know I won't color like them, but a girl can dream right? With so many stamp companies putting out stamps intended for coloring I have eyed these markers for a long time.

So, look for some coloring in a stamp project soon! I have over 40 thank you notes to write, so the coloring may have to take a back seat to my thank yous for awhile. I'd like to just knock those out tonight, but I don't think it will happen that quickly!! I hope you have a lovely evening! I'll be back soon!

Kathleen

{Merry Christmas!!}

WOW!!! It's finally here! Where did December go? I had so many lovely ideas to share with all of you---ok, the three of you, but I just couldn't find the time to get it on here. SO, I'll likely share some of our Christmas memories over the next few days when I have time to relax and rest.....and blog.

What a blessed time of year this is---it's always been my favorite time. Here's the Christmas card I sent this year---and no, none of you have gotten it yet because I just mailed them yesterday.....I won't go into details, but I just finally decided, "I MADE them and I will send them even if they are late"---so, they are late! I used PaperTrey Ink's Silent Night--I LOVE that beautiful flourish. I embossed the white cardstock with one of my square nestabilities dies. Then I just stamped the star in Ripe Avocado. I really liked the other star that is in the set, but I would have had to cut them out by hand and I just couldn't do it. I used this star and punched it out with my large star punch from Stampin' Up! I used the red ink until I ran out of ribbon, then I changed to Ocean Tides for the flourish. This card 

was really simple to do---and when you are making 80, simple is GOOD!

Here's a picture of my three babies with Santa's goodies last night! Yes, I know my 17 & 19 year olds have on matching pjs----I just COULDN'T resist! We always give one gift to open on Christmas Eve and it's always PJ's (to the great disappointment of my 7 year old this year, but, it's Christmas, and I don't want to talk about that!) Anyway, I was at Target and saw these satin pajamas and really liked them. I had two different patterns, but I just decided I'd get them matching ones like I always used to---and they just grinned and put them on! What great kids I have---wearing matching pjs just for mama at Christmas (OK, they just did it because they knew I'd whine if they didn't, but either way, it's DONE! And I have pictures forever!)

So, we got up this morning and to if Santa did in fact come to see us. Joshua is quite worried that he's on the naughty list....I really don't know why---I don't have to talk that way to him to get him to behave, but I think watching Elf last night just did him in! Anyway, what a lovely morning we will have around here! We will read the Christmas story from Luke 2---Joshua has actually memorized verses 8-20, so he wants to quote it for us---what a blessing to hear a child quote scripture.

I will leave you with Luke's account of Jesus' birth---Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift! Enjoy your day with your family---and thanks for stopping by!

Luke 2:1-20

The Birth of Jesus Christ

 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed,who was with child.  And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

The Shepherds and the Angels

And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.  And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

 “Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” 

 When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

{Some Christmas Stuff}

Here's a gift tag I made for some gifts I took to a Christmas party we had for David's work last night. We exchange gift with the people who attended. I was fortunate enough to find some beautiful platters last year the day after Christmas---half price. YEA!! I looked for bags and boxes to "gift" them in, but I didn't find anything I liked. I just decided to tie them up with tulle and attach a gift tag. I'm on my way out the door to teach this morning, so I won't go into a lot of details~the tag stamp is from PaperTrey Ink's 2008 gift tag collection---I love these. They make giving a gift more fun for me---I love beautiful presentation and these tags make that easy~

Here's a picture of the platter all tied up.

Below are some pictures of Hannah's "barbershop" group..."The Bobby Pins". They sang at a local mall last Saturday. There are five of them and the girl in the green jacket on the end is their director. This is her first year of teaching and she's doing an amazing job.

These are a little blurry---I'm not sure why. I didn't notice until I uploaded them here--oh, and Kris, I'll send you some of what I took--


Details for the tag:
Stamps: 2008 Holiday Tag Collection
Paper:Gold Shimmer Cardstock, Pure Poppy Cardstock, Stamper's Select White Cardstock (PTI), Wild Wasabi Cardstock (SU!)
Ink: Wild Wasabi (SU!), Pure Poppy (PTI),
Accessories: Fiskars Threading Water Punch, EK Success 1 3/4" circle punch, Blue Marvy Scallop Circle punch, green, red, gold cord--Michael's, Pure Poppy grosgrain Ribbon (PTI), Crop-a-dile, 1/2" circle punch (SU!)

Hugs~Kathleen

{Super Quick Gift}

...and it has a little punch, too!! A few weeks ago I saw this post by Ali Edwards (LOVE HER BLOG!). She was showing us some of her Christmas gifts she did last year---I decided I HAD to make some of these Christmas ornaments. She did some monograms---and I'm going to do some of those, too, but I made these pinecones with someone in mind.

I made this in about 3 minutes---and that includes tying the bow....seriously....that's my kind of gift! I made this for my secret santa that we do at school. I've neglected her a bit, so I had to make sure to give her something nice tomorrow. Tomorrow is my Christmas Program at school, so I've been especially busy lately getting ready for that.

Anyway, if you need a quick gift, this is the one to make---very affordable and so nice. My secret santa was a forestry major, so she loves all things "trees". I made a tag for the bag, but I don't have a picture of it---I don't have time to get one in the morning--so just imagine a tag made on Kraft cardstock using the pinecone from First Fruits---love it~

Well, that's a quick post---I hope you have a great day!!!



Pinecone ornament:
Frosted balls from AC Moore
Noel Rub Ons Value Pack (me & my BIG ideas)
Hunter Organza Ribbon

{Blessed Thanksgiving}

I wrote this post the day after Thanksgiving, but I had left my camera at my parents' house---yes, my brain is in full Christmas mode, i.e., FORGETFUL! SO, even though Thanksgiving is over, here are a few highlights of our lovely day.

Ahhhhh, there's nothing like family, food and football---and mostly in that order!! We gathered at my parents house for Thanksgiving this year. My sister and her family drove in to town and we had two other friends who didn't have a place to spend Thanksgiving. One should definitely have the opportunity to spend Thanksgiving day with a family--even if it's not your own, so we started inviting students to Thanksgiving when we began to have Thanksgiving at our home---it's a lovely tradition. We actually try to do it for most family holidays.

We had the usual foods to eat---but my mama always makes everyone's favorite pie---so, for the 13 people we had at the dinner, there were 7 pies---YES, seven...that's my mom!!! Can you believe I forgot to take a picture of the pies? We were all zombies by then---struck with the mythological Tryptophan. So, you will have to imagine 1 pecan, 1 banana cream, 1 coconut cream, 1 cracker, 1 buttermilk, & 2 chocolate pies---all of them are amazing. Recipes upon request!!!

Wednesday morning I got up and decided that I had to make a Thanksgiving menu and place cards. I had intended to do this for a long time, but it just never happened in the midst of the Christmas Scrapbook and Christmas gifts I'm working on. So, with only a few hours before we were to go to my parents house I pulled up to the table and began cutting paper!
This is what I came up with. I was strongly influenced by Debbie Olson, one of my Stamping Idols from her post here. Joshua wanted his table art in the picture, too---so, there it is!

I have decided that anyone can papercraft---it's all about the right tools....so, I just keep buying "tools" because they make me look good! ; } I started with some Kraft cardstock and First Fruits patterened paper from PaperTrey Ink. This made it so fast and easy! I love this pineapple paper, so I used it to dress up the place cards before attaching the image. I stamped some fall leaves and the pineapple from First Fruits onto Vintage Cream cardstock using the rock and roll technique. Because of time, I punched out the leaves with the Giga Marvy oval punch, and layered it with the Giga Scallop Oval punch. I used my nestabilities dies for the pineapple. I was going to use the pineapple on my nametags, but it was so large that it seemed to overwhelm them, so I just used the leaf instead. For the name tags, I simply printed the names onto Very Vanilla cardstock and ran them through my cuttlebug using the ribbon tag dies from Spellbinders. I threaded some saddle stitch ribbon through them and used redline tape on the back to hold them in place. I wanted to ink up the edges, but I just didn't have time before we left.

For the menu, I printed it out in brown ink and glued it onto Kraft cardstock. This was really a fast table embellishment and it made me happy!

Oh, and did I forget football? Of course, football was on all day long after the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. Some pro games were on, but my little family really doesn't care about professional football. (My dad does---this is why it was on all day!!) But we LOVE College football. My husband and oldest daughter will watch ANY college football game. But at 8:00pm EST, one of the biggest game in our family every year came on---University of Texas vs. Texas A&M. BIG game!!! SO, we really enjoyed that game---since UT won!! We haven't really enjoyed it quite so much the last few years!! I won't go on about the mourning for UT after the BSC polls came out on Sunday, although I could---but I digress into places that most of you care nothing about.

Before our family ate, my dad had us sit at the table and he told us of a quote he read years ago by a theologian. I can't remember exactly what it said, but it was something about this theologian writing about his "last chapter" of his life being his best. So, my dad proceeded to tell us of all the different chapters in his life--comparing them to those around the table---telling us about his life at the age of 7, as a teenager, at 19, in his forties, etc. Then he talked about the chapter he's in now---his "final chapter" and how he knew that it would be his best---because that's just the way the Lord is. He doesn't leave us because we grow old, or lose our job, or get sick, or whatever "bad" thing is going on in our lives. My dad has had a hard time with retirement---he's felt unfulfilled and sometimes useless---what a blessing that he is starting to see that this chapter, his "final chapter" can be his best. I hope his final chapter is a LONG and fulfilling chapter for him. This left me thinking that whatever chapter we are in, we should strive to make it our best chapter. To remember whom we serve and that HE is able to make our chapter the best. I hope you will make this day a great day, remembering how blessed you are.

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21 (ESV)

Hugs~
Kathleen

Placecard/Menu stuff:
Stamps: First Fruits (PTI)
Paper: Kraft, Pure Poppy, Summer Sunrise, Ripe Avocado, Vintage Cream, First Fruits Patterned Paper (PTI), Pumpkin Pie (SU!)
Ink: Pure Poppy, Summer Sunrise, Ripe Avocado, Dark Chocolate
Tools: Cuttlebug (Provocraft), Nestabilities dies (Spellbinders), Giga oval and scallop oval punches (Marvy), Corner Rounder (SU!)
Accessories: Ripe Avocado Saddle Stitch ribbon