Merry Christmas - Happy New Year

Well, Christmas is over and I'm preparing for my next carpel tunnel surgery on my right hand next week.  Let me tell you, it couldn't come any sooner.  The holidays and craft making were at times tough to get through with the pain but I was able to complete all the projects I wanted.

The one I was most proud of, I alluded to in an earlier post. Now that I have given the gifts, I can tell you what I did.  My father passed away in early November. Though all of his grandchildren are fairly well grown now (the "baby" is 16 1/2) I wanted to give my children something to remember him by so, I went and asked my mom for four of my fathers flannel shirts (something he always wore!). She gave them to me and I made pillows out of them (1 for each of my children - see above). They were very easy to make and looked so cute when done.

I told my sisters what I had done, and they wanted me to make one for each of their children....so, I ended up making one for everyone (my 4 kids, 2 nephews and a niece and one each for my sisters). I did not manage to get one made for me, but I have a shirt just waiting for a pillow form. :) Below is a shot of the kids with theirs.

I also was able to complete another project that I've had on my mind for years, but was unable to translate to paper. I made a cookbook for each one of my children that contained recipes that we make often in the family.  The big debate was whether to make the book myself or use a pre-made book and add our own recipes. I finally decided to stop reinventing the wheel and just use a pre-made book with blank cards to add our own recipes to it.  I personalized the recipe cards with paper, stickers, rub-ons etc., and on select recipes included pictures of the item that we had made in the past.

Another item I did was a wedding scrapbook for my son and his new wife. I struggled with the look of the book because their wedding really didn't have a "theme" so I didn't have a clear direction of the way the book should have went. I realize that it was a wedding and that should have been the theme but, it was really a different, very laid back wedding and it was difficult to document. I think they were appreciative of it though.

Another project/gift that I worked on (but didn't get pictures of..ugg) was a collection of greeting cards for my grandmother.  She likes to receive homemade cards and even wanted to make her own Christmas cards this year so, I thought she might like to receive a collection of them to send out.  I made several Happy Birthday, Thinking of You, Get Well and Thank You cards. I also included a couple Sympathy cards. I must have done something right because she complained I didn't include a graduation card (my cousin recently graduated from college)! Guess what I'll be making this afternoon!

Number 1 daughter and I also spent quite an amount of time (and money) at Archivers this season and managed to do a couple of their make-and-takes. I wanted to incorporate the Ho-Ho-Ho and Christmas tree tag into a card but never got the chance to do that.

 I still have the thought I might make a few New Years cards for a few friends. I still didn't manage to make any Christmas cards this year. I really need to put that on my schedule for the summer.  Maybe in 2012!  I'll make sure to get pictures of them before mailing them. I might even try to remember to take a camera to grandma's to get pictures of the cards I made (for historic purposes).

Well, that's all I have for right now. I'm sitting in my scrapbook room appreciating how very clean it is. This is something it has not been since Thanksgiving! Also, need to turn my attention to Valentines Day and make something for Daughter 2 and 3's boyfriends.

'til later.  Dee

Card Making

Spent the better portion of the weekend making cards. I am giving my grandmother an assortment of homemade cards (birthday, sympathy, get well) for Christmas because she likes them so much. So far, I have 3 birthday, 2 sympathy and, 3 get well cards. I still want to complete a couple Thinking of You and a couple blank notecards. I'll post all of them when the assortment is complete.

I also made a card for my sister-in-law who is celebrating her 50 birthday today. Her husband and children arranged for a "card shower". I used my McGill paper blossoms punch for poinsettia's. Unfortunately, I will have to hand deliver the card as I don't want the flowers to be crushed in transport. (Sorry about the fuzziness.)

Something old and something new

Made some more cards tonight.  Needed to do a couple of thank-you's for people that sent flowers for my dads funeral and a notecard for someone at work who received a new position. Found this paper by Authentique is called Bloom from their Gathering collection. I am absolutely in love with the pattern.  I purchased some Bazzill card stock that matched it and made a whole collection of cards.

The "new" part of my creating was flower arranging.  I had to make 2 matching arrangements. Watched a video by Becky Higgins on making a flower arrangement and went out to Michaels. I don't think they turned out too terrible and they look great against the bright green.

Life gets away from you

Well, looking forward to getting back to normal next week.  Seems like the past several weeks have been anything but normal.  In the past 7 weeks, I've only worked 10 days and only 5 straight at one time. But, that's all changing tomorrow.  Children 3 & 4 moved back to school today following Thanksgiving Break, husband will be at work and things will be nice and quiet. Which is good because with Christmas coming, I have some projects to do. I actually worked on one yesterday for all the kids, but can't tell you about it yet, #1 daughter checks out the blog every now and then and I want it to be a surprise Christmas morning. We did visit Archivers last week and made the 2 make-and-takes. They're actually tags, but I may incorporate into cards, not sure yet.

I also spent some time making Thanksgiving cards that I sent to family and friends.

I still need to get the scrapbook I made for my dad copied for my sisters. And I want to post a few pages from that as well.

Still alive and kicking (sort of)

I'm still here, and still creating but have had a rough last 4 weeks.  I had my carpel tunnel surgery done on the 17th. Things went well, so well, that I have scheduled to have the next hand done in January -- can't wait! It makes scrapbooking a little easier which was helpful because on Tuesday, #1 daughter and I had to put an entire scrapbook together from scratch.  My father passed away this past Sunday. It was something we had known was coming, he was in a lot of pain and the last few days were pretty bad. We were actually sitting around him that previous Friday evening looking at pictures and every now and then, I would come across one of him I wanted to scrapbook so I hid them so my mom wouldn't see me taking them. (She doesn't like to give pictures away.) So when he did pass a couple of days later I began to plan what I wanted to do.  I took all the pictures I wanted to use and copied them (so the originals would stay intact) and began planning pages.  Number #1 daughter was so helpful with the book - I know I couldn't have done it without her.  Once it was complete we took it to the funeral home and displayed it for everyone to see.  I'm actually thinking about taking it to Archivers and having the pages copied and made into a book for each one of my sisters for Christmas. When I get the copies, I'll share a few.

Don't you just hate it......

Been recuperating from carpel tunnel surgery this week and just made it out to the scrapbook room today. Was getting all crafty making the Martha Stewart rosette pumpkin and my Color Box chalk in creamy brown tore! I only had three layers cut and edged! And, the store I purchased the chalk from went out of business about 6 months ago.  Called around and found it at a new scrapbook store about an hour from my house. So, tomorrow I will drive an hour to purchase a $1.99 chalk pad.

On a good note, I have all the other layers cut and scored (yuk!) and ready to edge and assemble.  I'll post when I'm done - hope it turns out as cute as the sample in the store.

My digital camera

I've owned a digital camera for about ten years, it has registered over 5600 pictures taken.  I take a lot of pictures.  I love the ease of the digital camera but must admit, using a digital camera was the downfall for my scrapbooking.  Without having to print the pictures to see them, I don't develop very many and therefore, when I go to scrapbook unless it is for a specific event or person, I don't have a plethora of pictures stacked anywhere.  When I have the actual pictures in my hands, I can plan layouts and such with them.  I also digitally store my pictures on Shutterfly.  Which brings me to a happy note. Twice in the last month, I have qualified for 50 free prints from Shutterfly.  I just placed my second order and they were shipped last night.  That gives me 100 pictures to organize and to begin thinking about scrapbook layouts. 

I've been working on a few Halloween cards lately.  I'm having surgery mid-October and am not to sure what my mobility will be so I want to get a jump on things.  I'm hoping to make a few Thanksgiving cards this weekend. Here are a few of the Halloween cards I made.

I also made a Get Well card for someone at work who had major surgery.

Hopefully I'll post some Thanksgiving cards after this weekend.