Day 10

Kimberly came by and we addressed, stamped, and stuffed our Christmas cards.  She wouldn't leave until we finished the Christmas letter we always send.  What a great help, Kimberly!  I have finished licking the envelopes and they will be mailed tomorrow.  What a great thing to have this done!  Thank you, Kimberly! 

 After Kimmy left, I started baking the Orange Glaze Dark Chocolate Macaroons.  You know, they really are good.  It is just a hint of orange... and with that chocolate drizzle - Mmmm.

They look like the picture (below), don't they?  It is always fun to see the platters of cookies people take home from the cookie exchange.  There is such an assortment and the trays are very pretty.  I will try to remember to get pictures of the event tomorrow and post them on my blog.

Have a great Thursday!

Days 12, 11

DAY 12 was spent trying to figure out what kind of cookies to make for the annual cookie exchange at work set for Thursday of this week.  That means I need to bake TOMORROW night!  Yikes!  I browsed through a couple of cookie books and came up with...

 THIS ONE - Dark Chocolate-Glazed Orange Macaroons.  I love macaroons and thought the "orange twist" would be a nice touch.  We shall see.

DAY 11 - It's about time I think about getting my Christmas cards out the door.  This plastic shoe box contains the cards I have made (or made by members of the card exchange).  I finalized and updated my address list and printed the mailing labels tonight.  I still need to write some sort of Christmas letter.  Kimmy offered to help me, but we're still trying to pinpoint a time.  Hmmmm.... it may be me by myself this year.

I'll be back tomorrow.

Day 13

Day 13 was spent with Myah, Kylee, and Nicole just hanging out.  One of the things we did was decorate a gingerbread house. I had never done one before, and we had fun decorating and eating the candy.  Here's the finished house...

 Beginning stages...

 Nicole is holding it in place until it "sets up."

More decorating...

It was a fun day with the girls.  I also started receiving Christmas cards this week.  Every year I tape them to the door of the den, right where everyone can see them when they walk in the front door.  That was something we did at our house when I was growing up in Indiana.  We always taped the cards up on the door in the shape of a Christmas tree.  I wonder if my girls will do that.

It's Sunday night and I'm getting ready for work tomorrow.  Everyone have a great week!

Catching up with Days 17 through 14

 Day 14 - Still laying low for the weekend.  Cancelled all appointments except for the dogs' baths.  They needed it.  After that, I stayed home all day.

Day 15 - After our work Holiday party, I went and ran an errand and on the way home snapped photos of a few homes who have their Christmas lights up.  I love driving through neighborhoods at Christmas time.

Day 16 - I was home, under the weather, and not feeling well at all.  This is my favorite coffee mug - the girls when they were bumble bees for Halloween one year.

Day 17 - I went and had a quick dinner with Katie and Katie, after which my Katie was re-doing her nail polish.

Day 18

Okay - today is a very special day for me!  I absolutely LOVE Christmas music.  I am the kind of person who can sing Christmas carols in July.  I can't say it enough.  I LOVE Christmas music, but this year I had a problem.  I looked everywhere and could not find any of my Christmas CD's.  I lost the entire book of CD's.  Not good.  While I was waiting for my carpool buddy and while my car was warming up this morning, I happened to look at a box in the garage.  Down in the bottom was a plastic bag with my Holiday CD holder in it.  It absolutely made my day!  I don't know how it got there, and at this point I don't care.  My newest CD is from the show Glee.  It is a great CD -  you should check it out. 

Have another wonderful day!

Days 20 and 19 of my count down

Day 20 was spent at Paper Vineyard teaching a Christmas Card Class - This side of the table, from left to right, are Liz, Natalie (Liz's daughter), Colleen (we missed Amanda!), Claudia (Krista's mother), and Mary.  I asked them to all look up and give me smiles.... and they did!

On the opposite side of the table is Marianne, Denise, Val, and Aubrey.  The sweet lady at the counter is Krista.  She tried to hide, but I wouldn't let her. 

These two ladies (Cindy and Celina) became fast friends on Friday afternoon when they took Dana Edward's cookie book class.  I put them off at their own table - not because they were bad, but because the other tables were full.  It was a great class - they made some beautiful cards and I think everyone went home happy (in spite of the ribbon ruffling).  Thanks to everyone for taking my class! 

Day 19 was spent pulling out some Christmas decorations.  I am not sure how I want to do the tree.  It is really hard to pick only ornaments that are predominately white.  I definitely have some favorites that do not fit this year's scheme and I have to admit that it makes me a little sad not to put them on the tree.

This is one of my homemade photo ornaments.  The tree is so bright, it is a little hard to see.  I made this one last year and hope to make more to put on my tree.  I have pulled out some photos and will work on this over the next week.

I thought these white and silver ornaments might look good on the white tree.  I did add some bright blue lights to give it just a little color.  They are beautiful.

Tomorrow's another day!

Nicole's Paper Tree

I think this was made from an older BoBunny paper line.  In fact, I had completely forgotten about this tree that Nicole made.  It is on her desk at work... and it reminds me of the leaning tower of Pisa - and not because it is leaning, but because of the layers.  I think it is very cute and worth your time to look at it. 

Nice job, Nicole!  Very cute.

Day 21

Today is Day 21.  I was busy all day cutting kits - big class with a lot of preparation.  But the cards turned out so nice - everyone will be happy.  In the evening, I went to a crop with Celina (left), Cindy (right), and Adriana (you can barely see the top of her head behind Celina).  I should have done a better job at taking this photo.  It was a lot of fun and I got a lot accomplished! 

Be back tomorrow!

Day 22...

Okay, Friday was Day 22 of my personal Count down to Christmas.  I have a big card class on Sunday at Paper Vineyard, so on Friday night, and Saturday, and probably Sunday, I have been (and will be) cutting kits.  Here's my table with one of the cards laid out and being sorted.  I am short a little ribbon, so off to the store to buy more.

Have a great day everyone!

Counting down - Day 23

Okay - this is Day 23 in my personal Count Down to Christmas.  I went with my daughters, Kate and Kim, to see the Radio City Rockettes last night to sort of kick off the holidays.  Here's a photo of our tickets...

And here are my two beautiful daughters... Kim and Kate.  We enjoyed the show, the dancing was phenomenol and the background filming they used was spectacular.  Their costuming was fun - it was a very nice night.

I had never been to the area outside of the Jobing.com Arena.  It is very quaint and I could see myself having a whole lot of fun out there.  They were showing the Polar Express movie on a huge screen and people were sitting in lawn chairs, wrapped in blankets, watching the movie with their families.  A rather fun idea.

Can't wait to see what Day 22 brings.

Countdown to Christmas

A couple of "things" about Christmas this year. 

THING #1

Normally our tree looks like this.  It is pretty tall, GREEN, and covered with lots of ornaments.  I mean LOTS of ornaments.  My philosophy has always been that there is room for one more ornament; there is always one branch that can hold another ornament... and I love hodge podge, nothing matches and everything is unique to certain years.   

This year, I want to shake things up a little bit, so after talking with my carpool buddy, Lisa, (who always has a white tree), I decided to go buy a white tree from Walmart.  Once I got it put together, I wasn't so sure I'd made a good decision, but when I plugged it in - it is absolutely beautiful!  

I thought I wanted to put color lights on it, but I think I like it just the way it is.  I want to put some colored glass balls on it, maybe some unconventional colors... and I have another idea.  I saw a tree where they made ornaments out of family photos.  I love that idea!  I plan on stealing the idea, and am hoping I can pull it all together.

When I get it done, I will share it with you.  I think it will be a work in progress.

THING #2

I signed up for a kit from Stephanie Ackerman and the title of the mini book is "Countdown to Christmas."  My understanding is that it is a 25-page mini book, counting down to Christmas.  So... this picture of the white tree will be "Day 24."  I will share with you each day what picture will be in my mini book this year.  I am committed to taking a photo each day, right up thru Christmas Eve.  It should be fun.  Even more fun to look back at my book.

Have a great day!

I would love to hear about your Christmas trees!

Time for another card class

I can't believe it, but it is time for my next card class.  This month it is earlier than usual because it is part of the Home Spun Holiday event at Paper Vinyard Scrapbook Store in Chandler.  We will be making ten different "Santa" cards, using the Graphic45 vintage holiday line.  These cards are also a little larger than my usual classes, measuring 5" x 6.5".  I tried to embellish them with ribbons, buttons, clips, chipboard items, etc., but I also tried to keep them "thin" so you hopefully won't have trouble mailing them.  The class is being held Sunday, December 5, at 2:30 p.m.  Cost is $35.  Check out the photos below...

I would love to see you there!

Recognize this guy?

It's Apolo Ohno - olympic speed skater and gold medalist.  My daughter, Katie, and her roommate, Katie, stopped in at Changing Hands on Black Friday and Apolo was there, doing his book signing tour.  They were thrilled and stayed around to hear what he had to say.  I think they were impressed.

Here's the side of his bus.  Kind of a fun little surprise for them.

Snow Babies!

My friends are visiting family in Minnesota and sent these photos of Myah and Kylee.  Brrr!  It looks cold to me but they do have smiles on their faces.

Diecut Reindeer Box

A friend of mine, Celina, went to a Stampin' Up! class and they made this very cute reindeer treat box by using a Sizzex diecut.    The reindeer is made by using a snowflake diecut (cutting two pieces off for the antlers) and an oval for the face.  Ribbon was wrapped around the box for a very festive look. 

I am told it holds 6 chocolate kisses.

 

Thank you, Celina, for the reindeer gift.  It is so very cute!

Christmas came early!

My next card class is on Sunday, December 5.  It is part of the Home Spun Holiday event at Paper Vineyard.  We are making 10 different, 5 x 7" cards, using the Graphic45 vintage line.  The focus of the cards is the paper below which has 10 different images we will be working with. 

My order from Graphic45 came in and it was fun opening the box.  I have to admit, I do have an addiction to paper, ribbon, and buttons!

Come see what the fun is all about!

What a great Class!

Saturday morning was my monthly All Occasion Card Class - we made ten Christmas cards using the Cosmo Cricket holiday line "Mitten Weather."  Ten simple, but cute cards.  I sold all 18 kits that I made - Whew hoo! 
Pictures - in no particular order -

Here's Joanie - smiling wildly.  Joanie always likes to "mix things up a bit" by adding her own flare and experimenting with different techniques.  And that's what this card class is about - change 'em up.  These cards belong to you, so make them your own.  I do the same thing when I go to card classes.  I can't help it.

These are the tables, set up, laid out, just waiting for the ladies.  I was ready for them when they walked in the door.  Yeah for Jean! 

This is Mary, who takes quite a few of my classes.  Always a delight!

Two of my friends, MaryAnna (on the left) and Claudia.  I call MaryAnna my first Arizona boomarang friend.  When I moved back to Arizona in 1997, I met MaryAnna at church and we have been friends ever since.  I also met Claudia at church and her daughter, Krista, loves crafts and now actually works at Paper Vineyard.  MaryAnna is a seasoned crafter, but this is all new to Claudia.  She had a great time, though.  Watch out, Claudia, this does become addicting!  I am also in a book club with these two ladies.

This is Sarah, with her granddaughter, Rachel.  Rachel is a senior this year, and her grandmother signed her up for this class.  She was so very quiet, I hardly knew she was there.  Her cards were very cute.  She was another one who "did her own thing."  Thanks, Sarah, for bringing Sarah to the store (and thanks to Valerie for telling Sarah about Paper Vineyard).

One of my favorites - Celina - working on her cards.  Celina has signed up for the entire weekend of Homespun Holidays and she is very excited about it.  Check out my blog on Tuesday - I am featuring a diecut box made by Celina.  It is so cute!

Every class has to have some sort of treats.  I made Paula Deen's recipe for "Aunt Trina's Pumpkin Holiday Treat."  It is kind of a cross between pumpkin pie and cake.  It is crunchy, pumpkiny, nutty (pecans), and of course, buttery.  Everyone raved about it.  I made it for work and everyone loved it there, too.  Let me know if you want the recipe, I can send it to you.  Or you can google it, as well.

These are Liz's cards.  She did her own thing, which is great, and exactly what she should be doing.  Very cute, Liz!

And this is Liz.  This was the first time I met Liz, another quiet one, but always had a nice smile (meaning she was having a good time)
I missed getting a picture of Michelle and Sherry Bamsey's (Susan, Sandra, and Victoria) three friends.  Sometimes I am a little slow on getting out my camera.  I'll catch them next time!  Thanks again, everyone, for your help in making this class a success.  And a big thanks to Paper Vineyard for providing the store space for this class!