More from my first card class of the year. I used all Great Impressions stamps except for the Happy Valentine's Day greeting on the tree, which is Stampin 'Up! It doesn't show up very well in the picture, but the hearts and flowers are glittered and glazed.
The second card  uses a paper doily from the craft store and the technique spotlight was the use of the paper flowers (which are usually flat) used in a larger dimensional flower. We also learned how to easily change the color of the flowers using drops of alcohol ink. It was a class favorite! Looks as though there is more to doing it than there actually is! I did not change the color of my flowers, but who knows what I'll do in my card re-do's!

Lazy Sunday morning!

Boy do I feel lazy today. Probably because I have a birthday coming up and it's not my 29th. boo hoo...

Sylvia hosted our sibling lunch yesterday and as usual, we had a great time together! She also used our day together to celebrate my birthday!


Today we go to mom and dad's for more celebration.

After looking at this picture, I need to do less celebrating and start exercising! Good grief!

Carl's birthday is tomorow, day before mine and I need to dig up some baby photos to share with my hundreds of followers, (that's a joke, ha ha!)

I do have a very sweet picture of Carl and James taken last year and I just LOVE it!

                             Now to track down some baby pictures!      



January 17th, first class of the New Year!

On Monday, I gave my first card class of the year. I had 8 women total which is a great way to get into the swing of things again. Our theme was Valentines Day of course, since that is coming up very soon! I realized for the first time that I can think of, that I really enjoy making Valentine cards as much as Christmas cards. I guess it's because I can use all the glitter and bling that I want!!! I also decided to include a more "masculine" card in my class, since most of the women there will probably be giving a card to their husband, son or other male in their life. Guy cards are hard for me, but I still managed to sneak in a little bling!

I am working on my re-do's today and hopefully will get them posted.

I have a new photo editing software that I am trying to bond with, and even though I can rotate the pictures, when I upload them, they are not rotated. 

grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! Always something.... :-(

The Life of Riley...

Or did I mean to say Georgie?
                                
He seems to think that my printer is his private perch to view the world go by. (birds and squirrels in particular!)  He has to have a little of the window sheer pulled back for a better view. Another favorite of his is the sewing desk in my "office".

We should all have it this rough!

I DID IT!!!

Now I can blog again ! ( I just can't blog without pictures, how boring!)

I finally got all of my pictures off of my laptop onto my new laptop! Why am I so excited, you ask?

Well, I've been struggling with it since before Christmas and I finally figured it out! After much trial and a *boatload* of error, I got them loaded onto the flash drive then onto my new computer. For computer geeks, it's a no brainer, but for self taught, stubborn me, it was a HUGE victory! After trying disks and folders and albums and right click this and left click that and drag this and drag that, I realized I was chasing my tail and finally went with the flash drive that I had given up on after a few unsuccessful attempts. I'll spare you the details!.............

The first picture is of my unfinished nativity set that I started when I was doing ceramics. Ceramics was the start to this whole artistic thing that I tapped into but that's another long story for another blog post. ;-)

The second is an inspiration from one of my BFF's ;- )  When I was privileged to be able to help him with a 3 floor installation at a law office in Seattle, this was one of the things that we did and I was so inspired that I just HAD to try it!!! Love it!!!

Then, I had to do a little decorating in the kitchen so this is my fridge-scape. (I invented a new word)

So here is the deal. Christmas in the secular sense stresses me out. My whole being screams "This is not how it is supposed to be!"

So, once I have time to take a deep breath, I decide to be true to my insides and just prepare.....

I am so glad that my faith and my French roots teach me that we celebrate AFTER the birth! Advent is the time for preparation FOR the birth. The Christmas season ends as we celebrate the baptism of Jesus, which was today the Sunday  after the Epiphany. I will now start taking my decorations down. I feel no sadness, or depression for the end of the Christmas season. My depression and pre-Christmas anxiety was caused by the secularization of one of the church's most beautiful times. I am at peace because this is the way it was meant to be.

***note to self.  LEARN YOUR LESSON!***