Snowy Boxman

I made some of these a couple of years ago for a Christmas wedding as favors.  Now, I'm making a couple of them for the little girls upstairs.  They have some Hello Kitty toys, stickers and candy.... something in each box.  Plus the little holder on top can hold a picture or a note.  I used Tags, Bags, Boxes and More for the boxes and the Cuttlebug Swirls folder for the embossing.  Stretch Your Imagination for the Arms, Joys of the Season for the snowflake.  Some material and some punched dots and a cut out nose.  I think they will like them. (Just Buggin)

 

 

Silent Night, Monday Night

This card tied in a challenge at the Cricut Cardz Challenge! 

It's Monday.  What's good about Monday?  Lots!  It's a fresh start of the week, it's a clean slate, it's a new adventure.  I really like Mondays.  I had a lot of homework to do today for Italian class and I worked hard on it.  The thing is, I feel like this time around in school is better.  I am understanding more this time. I want to learn it.

That's the thing about the routine I was talking about yesterday.  Getting into a routine of excellence in whatever you do.  Tom and I have a routine for our goodbyes.  I created this card today because I wanted to try this type of fold on a card.  I worked slow and didn't rush.  I'm happy with it.  I like the design I did of the snow hill and the welded words.  The routine of one card a day, and only one card done well.

So, tomorrow is an Italian holiday.  The day that Gabriel told Mary that she was pregnant with the Messiah.  I'm not Catholic, so I don't get it.  How if Jesus was born, December 25th, and Mary found out she was having Jesus on December 7th,.... besides the miracle of the Virgin birth, it was the miracle of a very fast pregnancy or an extremely long one.  Of course, I know that some of these dates are "subjective" but it makes me giggle.  All the stores and shops will be closed tomorrow and a lot of the people took today off too so they could have the long weekend.  It's so quiet today.  I listened to Christmas music all day, cleaned, played and created.  It's a good Monday.

Onward and Upward,

Saturday Sooner than it should be...........

My life has been a series of Tom saying hello and goodbye.  From the very beginning of our relationship Tom was saying hello and goodbye.  Twenty years in the Navy of Tom saying hello and goodbye and now more than five years of Tetra-Pak and Tom is still saying hello and goodbye.  Today was goodbye.  I always know it is coming and dread the day it arrives.  The time when he will emotionally separate from me and go into the other room to do the ritual packing and mental departure, while I sit in the other room trying not to be any kind of emotional mess that makes it more difficult for either of us.  There are lots of rituals we go through as he prepares to leave, lots of little routines.... years and years of these.

This Saturday came sooner than it should. I didn't want it to come. He's off traveling the world again. I'm alone again. Just me, my little apartment decorated with the paper chain from all my crafting scraps, the blinking solar Christmas lights that twinkle until they have used up the days supply of sun and my cricut.  I dream about my cricut at night and design cards that never really look like what I actually create in real life.  I've discovered this week that I am not very good, I'm okay at my craft but not great.  I want to be great. So, I'm not going to put up another card onto any of the competition sites or the cricut messageboards until I have one that I think is great.

Like all these years of coming and going, hello and goodbye, if you practice at something long enough, you become accustomed to just what it is, a routine in your life, for good or bad, it is a routine. I want excellence to be a routine. 

So, these are the last of the cards that I have made for my Cricut Card Fairy Army today after Tom left and I went through my normal ritual of his leaving:

 

 

 

 

Routines are good things in life even when we don't want them to be.  They let us set up a pattern for whatever it is we need to accomplish. I'm working on my accomplishments.

 

Onward and Upward,

Snowman & Friends

I have been just designing my own cards and then entering them if they fit somewhere.  This is the first time I have designed something specifically to enter it.  Made with Joys of the Season, George, Animal Kingdom and papers I made myself.  Inking, popping, and stickles.  Inside says, "We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year."  I loved the raccoon, he was so much fun to do.

Snowman & Friends reminds me of my singing family.

Lots of music in my family.

Christmas Card 2

This is my second Christmas card to the people on my list who love snowmen!  This one will also go to the people that I forget so if it goes after Christmas and into the new year, it is okay because it is a winter card.

This card was made with SYI and George.  Paper from the Cricut Winter pack, and plain old white.  some snowflake mini stickers, and some bling jewels and stickles. A piece of material for the scarf.

Christmas Card

This is one of my original Cow Cards:  All pieces cut from George and paper pieced together. On this cow I also used JOTS and Decor.  I love doing these cows and sold a set of 12 at a silent auction for $65.00 recently.  Of course, the money was for a good cause so it doesn't really count but it was a nice ego booster. So, I just made a bunch of these so I could send them out at Christmas and I'm going to enter it at Practical Scrappers.

Cole's Birthday

It's Cole's birthday today. My baby is 24. He's on his way to his home from Disney World.  They had a great time and I'm glad.  Cole will deploy with the Army in January.  His wife is going to school full-time so I'm glad she will have some activities to keep her busy during his long deployment.

It's been a long day today waiting for Tom to come home from China.  He's on the last leg of his flight now.
So, I kept busy trying to finish up my Christmas cards which I need to get in the mail on Monday if they are to make it home from Italy before Christmas.

These two cards were a bunch of scraps

  Now Christmas is on my brain.

This is me as an Elf last year and Tom and I as elves.

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/DyjNCKWwmyxoRi7q?cmpid=ey_fb_self

It's NOT Thanksgiving

I woke up this morning and the first thing I thought was, "It's Friday and it's not Thanksgiving anymore."  I didn't cry or anything yesterday, but I was keenly aware that it was Thanksgiving at home and my kids were getting together with family and friends, and my family were all getting together and celebrating..... I'm in Italy, Tom's in China and we're not celebrating anything.  We're just being.  I couldn't even create the way I wanted to.  I was sad.  Then the power went out for two hours, so I couldn't create, I couldn't talk to anyone on Skype and after I talked to Tom for a 1/2 hour on my cell, it was dead.  So, I went in the bedroom where I could work on my laptop on someone else's internet and I looked around on facebook and played a game on the computer, then I designed a bit on DS.  These are the cards I came up with:

Sending you an E card via Snail Mail

Deer Christmas

This last one is a Slider Card.  I had never tried one before, but I got one from a bank in the mail, so I took it apart to see how they made it.  Then I designed it in DS and cut it.  This was more about learning the construction of the card than the actual decorating.  So I just used scraps that I had left over from another project.  Inside it has a pocket for a gift card or something.  I put some tea in there. There is a window in the card where you can see the words Merry Christmas.  When you slide the card out it says

Enjoy Everyday, Merry Christmas. 

The actual greeting for the card says:

It's Christmas in the Heart

that puts Christmas in the air.

That was my thanksgiving day and I'm glad it is over. 

Now I get to clean and get ready for Tom to come home.

Onward and upward,

Wednesday before Thanksgiving

I am pretty proud of this card today.  I'm going to enter it in two different contests.  One at Practical Scrappers for the Stitching contest and one at Cricut Cardz Challenge for the Pink/Green and White challenge.  It took a long time to put all those branches together.  I started yesterday and finally finished today.  It has a lot of popping to make the depth, but a lot of branches to cover up the popping.  The branches are cut with a MS punch and the ornament cut at 3 inches from Joys of the Season.  Added the pink ribbon and the charm, some stickles and bling.  Paper is some I found at Tuesday Morning. The word Joy is cut from Joys of the Season Shrinky Dink plastic, colored and shrunk. Stitched on my pixie craft sewing machine.

Tuesday - Scrapping

So, I've been scrapbooking to change my mind up a bit from the cards I've been doing.  It's much messier to me than cardmaking.  Longer lengths of ribbon, cutting pictures, placing moving, replacing, resizing. Cards are pretty much one size.  So these are a couple of pages I have done working on Ellis' scrapbook.

This was a tribute to the team that Logan and Tom support.  I am a cowboy fan....lifelong, so it has always been a grudge fest in our house twice a year and in competition for division.  I support that my son has supported his dad and his team.

They are giving away a Gypsy!!

Yes they are giving away a Gypsy at The Gypsy Spot.  Custom Crops for donated a brand new Gypsy (retail value 299.99)..wow.   Since I LOVE Custom Crops and order nearly all my card making stuff from them, I'm glad to support this spot and I hope to win a Gypsy!!!!  Click on the links to visit : Custom Crops   and Custom Crops Videos.

Just another Monday

It's foggy outside today.  Can't even see the mountains. The temperature is staying steady at around 50 so it's not too cold, but not too warm. Even steven.

I worked on some cards today and I also skipped school.  The mailman left me a note in Italian and after I translated it, I realized I needed to be here to get a package, so I skipped.  I want to go back to Italian school, but I also don't want to go. It's a catch 22 thing.  I will go to school on Wednesday though.  Back to school and homework and studying.

Here's what I worked on:

 I scraplifted this last one from Jeannie Phillips over at A Place For My Cards.  I can never ever make a card that looks as beautiful as hers.  I should stop trying to copy her and just get my own style, but I just really love her style.  Anyway, I've been using my cricut to cut shrinky dinks and I love it.  The bird on this card is a shrinky dink.  I'm almost finished with my Christmas cards now.  Just a few more to go.

We are thankful every day, but it is Thanksgiving week and my favorite holiday of the year. It is the time we are just grateful.  No gifts, no pressures, just being grateful and sharing food with each other.  Since we won't have one this year, I am really missing my favorite holiday.

"It is good to give thanks to the Lord, and to sing praises to Thy name, O Most High; to declare Thy loving-kindness in the morning, and Thy faithfulness by night... For Thou, O Lord, hast made me glad by what Thou hast done, I will sing for joy at the work of Thy hands. How great are Thy works, O Lord! " -Psalm 92:1, 4-5
Onward and Upward

Needed to Laugh

Tom is in China this weekend and I needed to laugh, so I started looking around at jokes on the internet.  It's funny to laugh by yourself.  When your laughter echoes off the walls it can be even funnier or oh.. so sad. But, when I saw this stamp that said "stamp naked."  I had to do this card.

So, I got one Christmas card and this one done.  Tom took the good camera with him to China so I had to use the point and shoot which doesn't take clear pictures on the "flower" setting, but you get the idea.

Tom will get to see the Great Wall while he is in China.  I'm so excited for him. Someday, I will get to go.  For now, I get to craft until I am exhausted from gluing things.  It's a good life. :0)

A Saturday in November

Tom has left for China and I am getting ready to decorate my home for Christmas.  Since we don't have a Thanksgiving day over here, I don't have to wait until after Thanksgiving to enjoy the Christmas stuff.  Everyone around here already has their stuff up anyway.  Tom got my Christmas stuff out before he left this morning and told me to have fun. :0)

I took all my paper scraps and before I threw them away, I cut off all the strips of paper and I've made a paper chain to go around my living room and hang snowflakes from.  Since we only have a 1.5 foot Christmas tree there is no need to take up room for a tree, I can just fill the room with paper decorations... right up my alley!

I made a couple of cards this week and I haven't had time to post.  When Tom is home, there are lots more things to do, more cooking, more laundry, more everything, so I didn't get to work on cards as much as I normally do.  I don't mind that.  It is very nice to have him home!

This last one is a work in progress.  I dreamed about it the other night and got up that morning and cut it out.  Now, I need to finish it and I have some ideas of what I want to do.  We'll see how the final one comes out and if it is worth posting.

Onward and Upward,

Mama’s Holiday Wish List Meme

Mama’s Holiday Wish List Meme
TodaysMamaand Provo Craft are giving away a sleighful of gifts this holiday season and to enter I’m sharing this meme with you.

1. What 5 items are on your holiday wish list this year? 
Wii & Wii Fit
Cricut Expression
Plane Tickets
Tour of Venice, Italy
Spend time with Husband

2. What is your favorite handmade gift you have received? 
A quilt my BFF made for me

3. What handmade gift have you always wanted to tackle? 
Cake Decorating

4. What was the best Christmas gift you received as a child? 
Walking baby doll

5. What items are on your kid’s wish list this year? 
Video Games

6. What is your favorite holiday food? 
Cookies

7. What will you be hand-crafting for the holidays? 
Cards, Cookies, jewelry

8. What is your favorite holiday movie? 
Elf, The Christmas Story (tie)

9. Favorite holiday song? 
Christmas Time is Here

10. Favorite holiday pastime? 
Looking at all the Christmas lights

Send TodaysMama a link to your post via email (info@todaysmama.com) with “Wish List Meme” in the subject line. You can even tag a few friends to participate in the meme. (Spread that holiday cheer!) 


Here is Today's Card.  Donna Mundinger had a similar card on the Cricut Message Boards.  You can see her card HERE and she is giving away the cut file too!