Blog Candy Reminder

Leave a comment HERE , and I'll be sure to put your name in for both give-a-ways.

It's getting close... so if you havent put your name in for both of these give-a-ways... hurry!
The first one , I'll be drawing for is the issues of
Scrapbook Dimensions Magazine. I'll draw 10 names on January 1st. Those 10 people will each receive the current issue of the mag (shown above).
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The second one everything is the photo above (top right) from Crafty Secrets Heartwarming Vintage giveaway . I'll be drawing for this give-a-way January 2
1 French Mail stamp set
1 Cherub stamp set
1 Sweet Chips Chipboard house
1 "Seasonal" booklet
1 sheet of Valentine stickers

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Valentine Sweet Chips House

Today , I worked on my "Valentine" themed Sweet Chips Chipboard house.

Every time I do one of these , I remember just how fun they are to do.

I used acrylic paint and Papers from the Radiant Paper Pad , from Crafty Secrets.

It's amazing how quick these are to do up. I did this in just a couple hours this afternoon. The bare chipboard set, comes with two long pieces of Scalloped chipboard, (along with many other pieces, such at the windows, circles, and other pieces I didn't even use on this house..like little birds ect) .. I just used my large scalloped scissors to make even more layers on the roof.

Yep... pom pom trim. Go figure. lol( I'm obsessed with the stuff)

All of the stickers I used were from the Valentine sheet... and I have lots left over for other projects.

Once again, I got a late start, so the sun was going down, by the time I was ready to photograph.

I dread taking photos of projects when I don't have natural light. ( major pet peeve) lol

So .. I apologize for the poor quality photos. (but I tried... I was outside in my slippers... teeth chattering) lol

I don't think I can do a project without buttons... just love them too!

and... working with pink and red.. .. cant beat that!

All of the Crafty Secrets Valentine images are adorable.

These photos are from a couple of years ago...but I just love the look on Wes's face in these. Who doesn't love seeing there kids happy?

A little bit on inking and faux stitching.

The "Sweethearts" tag is also from the sticker sheet.

It felt good to get out of my little creative slump and do this today. The cards I posted the other day , where some that I had done last year... (for those of you , who were giving me credit for being so "on the ball")... working on Valentines stuff just after Christmas. lol There... I fessed up! ha ha!





Thanks so much to all of you , for the nice comments and Birthday wishes to my mom yesterday. I actually called her today, and read them all to her!

Happy Birthday MOM!

Today my sweet mama had her 86th Birthday!


So we all spent the afternoon together at my Brother Dan, and his wife Lori's house celebrating together. I picked up mom and then picked up each of her friends to bring them over. We had such a nice time. All of the family that lives close enough, that could be there was. I think mom really enjoyed herself.

It was a beautiful sunny day , for December in Nebraska.

Some shots of the oldest and the youngest in our family.

Serious conversations between baby Addison and Great Grandma.

My niece Kiley

and the "stealer of my heart" ... Griffin. lol

Adian and Griffin (um... I think "toys" are supposed to be in that box)lol

I think baby Addison got held by absolutely everyone there today. I love this shot of her and Nathanial.

Oh... you can only image how many pictures I took today. I just wanted to share a few, in honor of my mom special day.

I have been sharing WAY more family photos , than I have projects lately...I've been taking a bit of a break over the holidays, just to enjoy! I promise, more projects to share soon.
Today... I'm just thankful for another really nice day spent with my family!!

Two give-a-ways at the same time??

It's my turn to do the Crafty Secrets give-a-way now! yay! I haven't finished my Scrapbook Dimensions Magazine give-a-way so.... How can you beat two give-a-ways at the same time???

So here it is! Sandy the owner of Crafty Secrets Heartwarming Vintage , has been so generous with letting all the girls on the team , letting each of us host our own giveaway. She has even given us choice of what we want to giveaway. This is my choice...

GIVEAWAY INCLUDES:

1 French Mail stamp set
1 Cherub stamp set
1 Sweet Chips Chipboard house
1 "Seasonal" booklet
1 sheet of Valentine stickers

How is that for fun? ha! All you have to do , is comment in this post, and I'll put your name in for the drawing on January 2 ( next Wed)
I thought I'd share with you , some Valentine cards I made using some of these stamps. All of these where done with these two stamp sets, with the exception of the one in the bottom right corner. It was done using the "Artsy Alphabet" stamp set.

I chose these stamps because I love how you can build with some of the elements in these sets. You can see how you can take the stamps and create so many different designs from by combining them in different ways.

I just repeated the swirl stamp from the Cherub set for this one, and added some flower punches.

Okay... here's the other give-a-way, that I'll draw for January 1(next Tues). Cyndy , the editor and owner of Scrapbook Dimensions Magazine is letting me give away 10 issue! I'll be drawing 10 winners on January first! If you comment in the post I'll add your name to both the Crafty Secrets give-a-way and the Magazine giveaway. Or you can add your comment in this initial post about the give-a-way. HERE

I feel so lucky to get to give a way all these goodies!

Be sure to either leave your email or check back on next Tues and Weds , incase you are one of the winners. At that time , I'll have you email me your name and address, and I'll send it on to Scrapbook Dimensions and Crafty Secrets, so that they can send out the goodies, to the lucky winners.

I hope you are all enjoying the week!

Christmas Eve

Sharing family photos from Christmas Eve. I always post these photos for my far away family and friends... no paper crafting projects here... just my peeps! lol
But , they're cute "peeps" aren't they? lol

It was a perfect Christmas Eve. The kids were as cute as ever, lots of yummy stuff and lots of laughs.

Those frosted cookies , are my moms sour cream cookies. She has been making those for as long as I can remember. She spoils us.

Oh.. it's so fun to have the little ones around. They entertained us all night. lol

Grandma and Neely.

Grandma, and her new "Tilly and the Wall" Sweat Shirt.

Griff, taken in the good stuff!

Jayvier, was pretty excited about opening gifts.

Neely's new cute little hat.

We loved seeing Gayle and Andrew!

Nathaniel and Kirstyn play Jarads Guitar Hero.













and she was having a ball!

I had planned some silly games for us to play. Everyone was such good sports... it was a hoot.

The gift in

the box was

wrapped in

lots of layers.

They has to open

a layer and pass

it on to the next
person...while

wearing the gloves,
hat and scarf!

Everyone is showing off their Christmas trees??? lol











????? Christmas trees???

The game was... everyone got one piece of green construction paper, and they had to (behind their backs).. do their best to tear out a Christmas tree shape.

If anyone has walked in , they would have wondered, what in the world , we were doing. lol

There was also a trivia game. We broke up into two groups. They are a competitive bunch.lol

This was another game , were they had to have a pardner and draw what I was describing, (without looking). The pictures were hilarious!

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One of the most fun things we did, was watch some "old school" family Christmas Videos. Jarad brought his big projector, so that we could play the videos on the wall (big). Keith brought some he had put on discs, from his old reel to reel movie camera. Movies from about 35+ years ago. I had some from about 20 years ago. We LAUGHED so hard! ( and cried a bit too)

It was such a fun thing to do together.

As our family grew over the years, we realized it was just too much for any ones home, so we decided if we wanted to continue to all get together, we would need to rent a building for holidays. It was hard at first, because no place feels quite like home..but you know what? It's not the place that matters at all. It's just being with the people you love. It's totally the "norm" now. We're just so thankful to be together!

Everyone just chips in and it goes off without a hitch.

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Yesterday, we had mom , and Brent, Diana and Nathaniel out here, to spend Christmas Day with us. We had such a fun and relaxing day! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

Thanks for letting me share a little bit of mine with you!