A Thankful Heart and Cozy PJ's

We returned yesterday from a trip home to spend Thanksgiving with my family. As usual, it was wonderful to reconnect with everyone and to share a fabulous turkey dinner with all the trimmings!

After dinner, we went around the table and each of us gave voice to the things in our life that we are most thankful for. While we each had our own personal list (new beginnings, turkey dinners, shopping, chocolate, etc.) the overall theme was certainly the same for all - family, health, faith. It was the first time we went around the table like that, and it was nice to hear each family member (from my 5-year-old nephew to my 82-year-old mother) share their heart.

The next morning, bright and early (4:00am to be exact!) we were at the mall shopping for bargains. We shopped until about noon and we picked up a number of Christmas gifts at incredibly low prices.

The only thing that I splurged on for myself, was an adorable pair of cozy PJ pants from Aerie. When I saw the Christmassy looking patchwork bottoms, I fell in love!

With the weather turning colder and Christmas just around the corner, I thought that I had better buy them in order to stay nice and warm. Plus, I will look really cute in them for our Christmas morning gift-opening photos! (Yes, it all comes down to scrapbooking! lol)

Digital Christmas Layout

I just can't resist playing in the digital world. I only wish I had more time to try different techniques with my photos and to do more layout sketches. My poor i.love.sketches blog has been unattended for so long, but I hope to get back to it one of these days.

A couple of days ago, I did up a quick Christmas layout using a template from Pink Paislee.

It was fun and easy to do and has actually put me in the Christmas spirit! Now I want to start pulling out my boxes of Christmas decorations and getting the house ready for this special holiday. After all, it is less than a month away! Have you started decorating for Christmas yet?

Little Red Wagon #56

It's Wednesday and it is time for another fun challenge at Little Red Wagon! Deanna has challenged us to use Basic Grey on our creation this week.

I love Basic Grey and I was excited to use the new Jovial line on my card!

I was also excited to use this new stamp from Stamping Bella! So I grabbed my Copics and color-coordinated the image to match the paper. I added some cardstock and a bit of stitching and decided that was all it needed.

Be sure to join in the fun at Little Red Wagon! We would love to see your creation using Basic Grey!

It Was Fun!

I am back from a fun weekend of helping my sister and niece with a fundraiser for their church. My sister, Dianne, helped to organize the event and put in many hours to make it a success. Danielle, my 17-year-old niece, is an aspiring entrepreneur who would like to start making and selling chocolates. So for this fundraiser, she was able to have a table where she could sell some chocolate goodies and launch her business at the same time.

She has decided that her business would be called d's delicate delights and she is starting with chocolate covered pretzel rods in a variety of flavors such as Caramel, Oreo, Skor, Sprinkles and Rice Krispies. She is also making gourmet Caramel Apples. Yummmm!

It was really a family effort for this event. My sister Mary, Danielle's mom, decorated the paint cans and jars and helped to package the pretzels, Dianne helped out by making some of the pretzels and apples and I helped by making some Oreo Cookie Pops. Danielle also made four different kinds of pretzels and her sister, Sarah, helped to sell the goodies.

This is a picture of my niece Sarah, myself and Danielle.

We are all wearing some aprons that I made especially for the occasion.

We had so many comments on them and a lot of people wanted to know if they could buy them!

We ended up having a great time as we spent the day working together and it was a good experience for my niece. I hope she continues to follow her dream of making delicious chocolates for others to enjoy!

Cookie Pops!

This weekend I will be heading home to help my niece and sister run a booth at a fundraiser for their church. It is going to be a huge venue with lots of upscale retailers being represented (i.e. jewelry stores, purse stores, etc.) as well as individual vendors. My sister and niece are making and selling gourmet pretzels and caramel apples.

These are a couple of photos of some preztels and apples that they made for my niece's bridal shower last summer. They are absolutely beautiful to look at and incredibly tasty!

So being the nice person that I am (?) I offered to make some gourmet Oreo cookie pops to add to their booth. In the last couple of days, I have made about 200 of them, which I have to say was not an easy task. There are about 500 steps in making them (OK - I am exaggerating a bit, but it feels like 500 steps!) and after about cookie pop number 40, I wanted to take the sucker sticks and poke them into my eyes! (lol)

This is how some of them look prior to packaging. Each one will go into a little cellophane bag and will be tied with a gold twist-tie. I hope that they sell well!

My sister, Dianne, has been working non-stop to help organize this event as well as make her pretzels and apples. This is an email that she sent me around 5:30 this morning...

"I'm delirious, sleep deprived, excited, nuts.... no not nuts. I need to buy nuts. It's on my list. Not on my work list. My personal list. To do after my work list. Which I will do first after I go to work. Then to the store. Then home to clean and make 400 pretzels and apples, decide what to wear, sleep, and look good! Is it possible? YEEEEK! And shopping! Can't wait. What will I buy first. We will tag team for the best items. Each take an aisle and get there first! Pretzels. I think I hate pretzels. No I don't. Where did that thought come from? I really love making my pretzels, Love. Love. Love. All you need is love, da, da, da, da. All you need is love, da, da, da, da, da. Hmmmm. Hmmmm. Hmmmm. Come on now, hum with me. All you need is love, da, da, da, da!"

She said she has been up since 4:00 am, after going to sleep around midnight, so I can understand her craziness! She is such a funny and goofy person at the best of times, so I can only imagine how silly she is with just a few hours of sleep. Oh well, I am sure that everything will get done and it will be a huge success! But, say a prayer for us, just in case :)

Little Red Wagon #55

It's time for another Little Red Wagon challenge! This week Rosanne has asked us to to add a banner to our project. I ♥ banners!

The inspiration for this card came from some new paper and embellies that were recently added to my wagon. They are from Pebbles Inc. and I couldn't resist making a sweet baby card with them.

Check out all the other fun project that the Girlfriends have made! You will be sure to see the banners flying this week!

Sweet

When I saw MME's Portobello Road collection, I fell in love! The colors, the texture, the glitter! And I knew I had the perfect photo to go with it.

This picture was taken about 12 years ago, when Spencer was maybe 5 years old. His cousin, Olivia, gave him a little peck on the cheek, just as I took the picture, and it has been one of my favorite photos ever since.

The old-fashioned feel of the papers and embellies were the perfect compliment for this photo. I layered alpha stickers onto a banner that I cut from one of the papers, added some buttons and twine and lots of pop dots for dimension.

Very sweet...

Just For Fun

I made up a card using a new stamp from Stamping Bella and it is beautiful!

I used the Dandelion Wisps stamp, which I stamped with white ink onto Kraft paper. Then before the ink dried, I added some Glamour Dust - omigosh! The entire image just sparkles and is totally gorgeous!

Then I paired it with a delicate teal pattern paper, white ribbon and a couple of buttons. And for a finishing touch, I used a sweet border punch along the bottom of the card.

Have a wonderful Saturday~

Little Red Wagon #54

It's Wednesday already! Time sure flies when you are having fun!

This week's challenge at Little Red Wagon is brought to us by Regan and the number 3. She has challenged us to use 3 of something on our creation so I made a card with 3 pattern papers and 3 trees!

This was a fun challenge and I know you will enjoy playing along. So head over to Little Red Wagon and show us what you've got :)

Have a great Wednesday!

Sew Lovely

I have been in a real card making mood lately. I have been trying different techniques, coloring with my Copics and just having lots of fun creating cards.

Last night I found some Lawn Fawn stamps that I had not used yet, so I thought I would make something with them. This is the card that I created.

Do I dare to admit that this is the FIRST TIME EVER that I actually paper pieced using a stamp! I always felt intimidated by the concept, but it is so easy and so very cool! That is what I did to create the dress, and then I combined the image with some Cosmo Cricket papers that I have had for a while.

Too much fun!

Little Red Wagon #53

Happy, happy Wednesday! Today we are celebrating our 1-year Blogiversary at Little Red Wagon! Not only do we have a fun challenge, but you also have the opportunity to win some awesome gifts, compliments of the Little Red Wagon Girlfriends!

Today's challenge is brought to us by Avril and she is challenging us to use the color red - most appropriate!

Here is my creation using the color red...

About a year ago, right after we created the Little Red Wagon blog, I happened upon a sweet little antique shop in northern Ontario. Lo and behold (I have always wanted to say that), they actually had an antique red wagon that was for sale! The price tag was quite high, so I didn't buy it, but I did take a couple of pictures for a future scrapbook page. This was the perfect opportunity to scrap this photo.

I am also offering this fabulous paper pad from We R Memory Keepers as part of our blog candy.

Anyone that joins in the fun this week, has the opportunity to win a whole package of goodies put together by all the Girlfriends. So be sure to pop over to Little Red Wagon and be a part of the fun!

Retreat Fun

Well, we are back from another fun and successful scrapbooking retreat weekend! We were very blessed again with a wonderful group of scrapbookers (100+) that added so much creativity and laughter to our weekend that I think I am now going through withdrawal!

While most of my time at the retreat is spent 'working', I was able to squeeze in a couple of my own creations. One fun thing I was able to work on was this adorable little purse!

My friend, Juanita, made one up and I couldn't wait to try one for myself. She also showed us how to make the fabulous flower that I put on the front!

I made up four cards to go inside...

and I plan on giving this to my Mom the next time I see her.

Thanks for sharing your talent with us Juanita! I had so much fun making this!