Betty Crocker and Noel

First up today is my card from last week's Cardalicious challenge. We had to make a Christmas card using an icon from Christmas (tree, wreath, angel, etc.). I used Rusty Pickle's Snowflakes & Mittens line on this card along with some yummy Martha Stewart glitter.

I've been a busy Christmas elf around my house this past week. I baked up a storm - ginger snaps, spritz cookies, cherry mash candy, fudge, peanut butter balls, peanut brittle, cinnamon-sugared pecans, butter crunch, M & M pretzels, anise candy, and peanut clusters. Whew! I think that's it and I also think I gained 10 pounds just looking at that list. Keep in mind, a lot of what I baked was double batches. I'm usually pretty self-disciplined but my hubby is not. I have to hide some of it from him or he'll sit and eat it all! :) I always take plates of goodies to work, to our neighbors and I'm the designated candy maker in my family so it all comes with us to our Christmas get togethers.

We're all ready for Christmas at our house. The cards and letters have been sent, everything's baked, presents are wrapped...we're good to go! I'm probably going to be pretty MIA the next couple weeks. I'll try to blog another time, but after Christmas at my parent's house, we're leaving for Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri for 4 nights. Our church has a regional conference there every year and we're really excited about going. The conference ends on New Year's Eve but then we're going to Glen's mom and dad's to spend 3-4 nights with them. They live in northern Arkansas so it's just another 4 hours down to them. I'm looking forward to the visit but I know I'll be ready to come home after a week away.

In case I don't get to blog again, have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! :)

Treasured Scrapbooking December Card Kit Reveal!

These are the 4 cards I created with the December card kit from Treasured Scrapbooking. The kit has beautiful patterned papers from My Mind's Eye and is packed with gorgeous embellishments! The card kit includes instructions to make all of the cards pictured here. For more ideas from the rest of the finalists, check out their blogs - Eva, Ashley, Renee.

I'll be back soon to share my card this week for Cardalicious and to share what I've been up to lately.

NEW lines from Upsy Daisy Designs!

Upsy Daisy Designs has 4 NEW lines available now that they will also be showcasing at Winter CHA. The new lines are called Unwritten, bebe, Circle of Friends and Man About Town. I love them all but my absolute favorite is Man About Town. The colors in this line are just gorgeous! Be looking for some new projects from me over the next month or so using the new lines.

I had quite a bit of luck with craigslist today. I sold 5 of my lots for just over $200. I was so excited!!! I've got one more huge patterned paper lot and a couple totes to sell.

Well, better get cracking today. I'm really hoping for some craft time tonight! :)

The Magic of Winter

Holy moly...it's cold outside! Hello, winter! I don't mind the cold and snow the month of December but after that I'm ready for spring. My office is frigid today. If I could type with gloves on, I would. I'm so cold! We were supposed to get this huge blizzard yesterday but it amounted to almost nothing. I worked from home anyway which was a good thing because I had to record some audio and listen to and analyze a very important Supreme Court case in Iowa. It was all very interesting, surprisingly! I had a minor accident with the stove last night and burned my fingertip quite badly. It's really numb today but at least it doesn't hurt. It was just one of those things that was so dumb - I turned the wrong burner on! Made me feel like an idiot! :) I've been continuing on with my productivity - sold some of my books, have some good bites on the stuff I put on craigslist and I actually sold a card on etsy! I'm not really ready to start advertising my store yet because I want to get more cards put on there but I'll be sure to post here when my store's ready to go.

Today's gift bag features the Snowflakes & Mittens line from Rusty Pickle. I used a mitten pattern I had in my stash that I came across quite a few years ago.

I also have some really good news to share today! I was selected as the card kit designer at Treasured Scrapbooking! I've been looking for an opportunity to design with a card kit and am so excited to create with Leslie's kits as they are jam packed! My first set of cards will debut on December 15th. I really loved working with this kit as it was full of beautiful colors and just the right amount of shabbiness! :)

Have a fabulous Wednesday! :)

Call me Mrs. Productive!

I have been so busy the last few days! I have done some major cleaning around my house, a little baking, and a lot of organizing. I posted 8 lots of scrapbooking supplies on craigslist, a bunch of books (scrapbooking and chick lit) and my Wishblade on Amazon and started working on opening an etsy shop. We are in major need of some $$$ to finance our adoption. I'll let you know when my etsy shop is up and running.

Today, I've posted a project using the Spirit line from Upsy Daisy Designs. I've had these wooden trees in my stash for a while so it was fun to finally use them!

Have a great day! :)

Christmas gift bag

I've been working on some Christmas projects lately so I wanted to share this gift bag with you that uses Rusty Pickle's Snowflakes & Mittens line. One of my favorite projects to make is gift bags - I love creating the fronts and something fun to hang on the handles. It's such a quick project yet looks like you spent a lot of time giving it a handmade touch.

While I've been crafting, I have been watching all my favorite Christmas movies - so far, I watched The Holiday, Rudolph (was on TV last night), and I'm on the 3rd Harry Potter movie. For some reason, the HP movies make me think of Christmas. I'm hoping we'll go see Four Christmases this weekend - it looks way funny!

Enjoy your day! :)

Lots going on!

Wowza! A lot has happened since I last blogged. It's been almost two weeks and I'm excited to share some new projects with you over the next few weeks. First off, I've been to see Twilight twice so far. I ended up dragging my hubby to a midnight showing. Despite all the teenage girls laughing at parts that weren't even funny, I really enjoyed it. We went to a better theatre that Sunday afternoon and the experience was 100% better. I LOVED the movie so much more the second time. I would like to go a couple more times. I got the funniest e-mail from my mom last night. I left my copy of Twilight at my parent's house after Thanksgiving so my little sister could get it and read it. I was beyond shocked when I got an e-mail from my mom that she was over half-way into it. I don't know when the last time was my mom read a book. I didn't get a love of books from either my mom or dad - that developed on my own. I called her right away and she said she really wants to go see the movie now. She was like "What a love story!" I about died laughing...the funniest thing about it was she was like "Well, I better get back to my reading..." She wanted to get off the phone with me! :)

Since I last left you, I got my house all decorated for Christmas. It was so nice to come home from my parent's over Thanksgiving and have that all done! I didn't put up everything I normally do but the tree's up and that's the most important part. Today, I was looking over my calendar for December and it's starting to fill up already with parties and other fun stuff. I always love this time of year but I'm always ready for it to be over by the time January rolls around. I missed out on the Black Friday festivities (it's my favorite holiday of the year) but I did a little shopping yesterday. We're really cutting back on the spending this year so it should be easier to find everything I want to get.

We did have some excitement on the adoption front. A birth mom wanted to meet with us but at the last second we decided not to meet with her. There were just some things about the situation that we were not comfortable with. It was a difficult decision but I think it was the best one. We have a lot of peace about it. We would still appreciate your prayers as we continue along this process. The holidays can be a difficult time for people who have experienced infertility and loss. My husband kept saying every year "Maybe we'll have a baby by this Christmas." As the Christmases passed without a baby, it became even harder to put on a happy face around the holidays. Last year, we didn't put up a tree or decorate at all. If you have a friend or family member who might be struggling this time of year (whether that person has experienced infertility or just loss in general), please go out of your way to let them know they are in your thoughts and prayers. It will mean a lot to them.

Well, that's enough from me today. I've been listening to Christmas music ALL DAY LONG! :)