Monday, December 31, 2012

Snowy Days and a Snowman

Sassy Cathy is the hostess for this Sassy Cheryl's Challenge Blog. Thank you ladies for making it a two week challenge. With Christmas, I REALLY needed the extra time. The theme was for Snow, but there was a second challenge to use a Snowman. The winner of the random selection wins two free images from the Sassy Cheryls Store. Now how can you pass up on that, especially when there are such fabulous Snowmen in the Sassy Cheryl Store.

This image is called Twiggy Snowman, and this one is the first image I colored with Prismacolor Pencils under the tutelage of Sassy Judy at SCamp in October. The image came in really handy since I'm to the last minute getting my card made.

I used the sketch from  this week's Sketch Saturday Challenge, and designed the layout with my Silhouette Design Studio software doing a print and cut for the parts. The polka dot paper is from the Cocoa Paisley Damask digital kit from Dotted Daisy.

Well, it may be the last day of the challenge, but at least I'm going to make it before noon instead of at the last minute.

Saturday, December 29, 2012

Christmas and New Babies

We had a two week Show Me Thursday this time around on Show Me Thursday Blog hosted by Sassy Cheryl, and I needed the extra time, as it's been a bit hectic here to say the least. DH and I hosted our annual Open House.


These pictures are of the goodies that I fixed for the Open House. I baked 42 small loaves of sour dough bread and what we didn't eat I gave away. The tins and buckets on the tables have cookies, sugar-cinnamon  almonds and pecan brittle. In the outdoor refrigerator is the tins of Tiger Butter, Fudge and Peppermint Bark. The plastic tub has Pudding candy and there are dips in there.




This year I decorated myself, so it didn't happen until Christmas Eve, so these are the pictures of the the mantle, coffee table and my Fontanini Nativity on the washstand in my dining room.


These pictures are of the tables in the breakfast room and dining room just before the company arrived.

During all the preparations for the party, I took a day out to babysit my niece's 2 year old so that his Grandmother could be at the hospital while my niece delivered his little sister. Here's a picture I made of Lucy Ann this morning in the Christmas gown I made for her.

So that's just a little of what I've been doing. Christmas is completely put away, and I for one am ready to get back to some crafting. How about you?

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Show Me Thursday

It's almost past time for my Show Me Thursday post for the Sassy Cheryl SMT Blog. It's where those of us that are truly interested in what others having going on in their lives(some folks would say we're nosey).  If you're selected you wind a free Sassy Cheryl's image. There's no way to lose.

I took these pictures last Friday. My DH does almost nothing to get ready for our Open House on Christmas night. I say almost, because he does one thing and that's get rid of some of the leaves. Our house is truly in a grove of oak trees, and the leaves are a major thing. There's no raking them a little along, you're body would wear out before the leaves stopped falling. So when all the leaves have finally fallen off the trees, DH gets out and rakes them far enough away from the house, that he can use the blade on the tractor to "rake" or make that drag them off deeper into the woods.

Last night we were invited into cousin of DH's for a Christmas gathering. i had never been to their home before, and I have to say that it was a trip. To start with their driveway is across the top a dam between two lakes. A bit hairy to say the least.  The house sits right on the edge of the lake(think a 4' strip of grass).  The outside of the house was lit up with icicle lights. In the formal living room was a pencil tree decorated with fairy ornaments. The picture I took was a total blur. This first picture is of the wall between the living room and the hall to the back door. Totally awesome.

Then in the family room was what she called her Menagerie tree. It's her favorite tree as it's decorated with ornaments that she's created over the years. What was really cool is that it revolved. I'm still trying to figure out how the wires don't get all twisted up.

To the right of the tree was this arrangement of Christmas village pieces. Thinking about getting all that out and putting it back up, makes me tired. It also reminds me I better do a bit more decorating before my Open House.

Thanks for stopping by.

Sunday, December 16, 2012

What We Do for Love

This week's challenge on the Sassy Cheryls Challenge Blog is feeling the love. For entering the challenge you get a chance at winning two Sassy Cheryl images. Talk about a win/win situation.

I took more of a snarky approach to theme. I may be sixty-two, married for thirty-four years, but I was almost twenty-eight when I married, so there was lots of dating before I found my "Prince". This image from Sassy Cheryl's Store called Avery Finds Her Prince, reminded me of all those frogs I kissed.  I colored her with my Faber Castells.

The papers are from a digital kit from Just So Scrappy 2 called I Toadily Love You, as is the frog clip art.. I sketch is this week's sketch for Tuesday Morning Sketch. The sentiment is from Tiddly Inks.

It's been a few weeks since I got to enter a challenge, so I'm really happy to be getting this done today. Tomorrow is going to be all about decorating for Christmas, so it was today or not.

Thanks for stopping by.

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

All About Me

It's almost time again for the end of this week's Show Me Thursday Blog post that the fabulous Sassy Cheryl sponsors each week. Although I have been working on several things that I could have showed you all, I thought I'd make you all jealous with what I did today. It was a ALL ABOUT ME DAY.


Started out with a walk with my walking buddy and another friend. So this is a picture of me at the end of the walk. Temps were at freezing this morning, and I was extremely chilly to start with, but you'll notice I'm halfway out of my mittens by walk's end. That checked the exercise off my list of things to do(trying to keep my self mobile and healthy). Now it's on to much more fun things.

Last year, my niece opened Vitality Spa in Starkville, MS, and my bestest friend gave me a gift certificate. Well this was the week to use it, so today I went for first a 30 minute facial followed by an hour long massage. The experience was incredible. Have to say I was a bit worried about being cold since outside temps have dropped, but the massage tables are heated and both the therapists were beyond competent. This first picture is of me with a masque applied to my face during the facial portion of the morning.

This second picture is of Betty working her magic on my tight shoulders.

 I'm now trying to figure out how I can do this once a month or at least every 6 weeks. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to be still for that long, but believe me it wasn't a problem. In fact it was kind of like Savasana in yoga, when I dread her ringing the bells to tell me time is up, and I have to leave.

I wish all my friends lived close enough to have these facilities available.

As bad as my house needs cleaning, I am not going to mess my day up by laboring and ruining the effects of the massages. Instead, I'm going to continue to indulge myself with play time in TazMania.

Thanks for stopping by.

Monday, December 3, 2012

A Sketch Challenge for Sassy Cheryls

Thank you Jackie for the sketch challenge for this week on the Sassy Cheryl Challenge Blog. As usual, I'm to the last minute getting something created. With a sketch provided, it was one less thing than my overloaded brain had to deal with.

I have actually had this image colored for a couple of weeks. It's called the Tree Trimmers and can be found at the Sassy Cheryl's store HERE. I was practicing with my PrismaColor pencils, so no Copics on this one. WOOHOO!!!!

I of course laid out the card using my Silhouette Cameo(and no I don't own stock in the company, but it's one of the most versatile and easy to use machines on the market IMHO). The papers are from Just So Scrappy 2's Santa Baby kit. The holly strips and the poinsettia are cut files from the Silhouette Online Store. I broke the strip into layers in order to color the leaves and the berries. I copied a couple of the leaves and berried and resized them for my corner embellishment.

Now off to clean up the super mess I created just trying to get this card put together.