Since we are off to sunny Florida soon, we celebrated Christmas with the in-laws. Family time...gotta love it! I enjoy watching people open gifts even more than I do opening my own gifts. I had been sitting a while taking it all in...most gifts were already open...when my daughter asked me what I got. I had no clue...I hadn't even touched the bags at my feet! I was so busy watching everyone else! And it was a fun site to see, that's for sure.

Everyone appreciated my homemade gifts, except my husband's grandmother. Her reaction was the only downer of the day, and I have come far enough in my growing up to realize it was her problem, not mine. I saw my daughter watching me, and I know she was noticing Grandma's rude behavior, so it was a great chance to talk later about how rude she was and how important it is to show appreciation of a gift even if we don't like it because the person who gave it to you put thought and time into it.

The picture shows the frames I made for her. Ironically, I think they were one of my favorite gifts and debated keeping them for myself! I do plan to make something similar for myself. I think the pictures in the frame are a big part of why I like them so much. They are my kids, and I love the sepia affect. The twill ribbon has "You make me happy" stamped on it. And the coins on the right say "sweet" for my daughter's pic and "strong" for my son.

There are no special techniques here...pretty simple and straight forward. Enjoy!

Remembering Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving, and we're on our way to a terrific Christmas as well...in sunny Florida...woohoo! In preparation of Christmas, I am making a lot of my gifts this year. All of these photos are pages I made for my sister-in-law. I plan to frame them all. The first is a page I made of my nephew, Tate, at Thanksgiving. Isn't he a cutie? I love this page! Next is his big sister, Grace. As you can tell from her party pics (the last photo), she is quite a character. I am so happy with all these pages. I'm doing similar things for most everyone in the family. I can't wait to see everyone when they open them. I know that anytime I've given photos in the past, they've really liked that. I'll post more once I've made them. I've got lots to do this week to get them done. We're celebrating Christmas with my in-laws on Sunday since we will be gone over the real holiday. Hope you are anticipating a great holiday as well!

My Beauty and My Beast

Well, the show is finally over! Whew...! My husband and oldest were in a musical together..."Beauty and the Beast" to be exact. My husband was the beast. I love telling people that he played that role long before this musical! He enjoyed it from beginning to end, but we are glad to have our lives back, especially right before the holidays.

Overall, the show wasn't bad. They could've used another week of rehearsals, but they still pulled it off pretty well. On the negative side, audio problems existed during the entire weekend, the actor who played Maurice was less-than-convincing to be kind, and the transformation was incredibly lame as there was not one single special affect.

My poor husband struggled with his voice all weekend. All the growling and singing all week caught up with him, and he struggled through his solos each time, which is a shame because they really are beautiful songs made only for the stage version, so you don't hear them in the movie. His mask also muffled his beautiful voice. But overall, he was an excellent beast and I think most people thoroughly enjoyed him and the show. Kids always approached him cautiously at the end with parents to prove that he really was just a man in a costume!

Belle was absolutely amazing! The lady who played her role was MADE to play Belle. I am not exaggerating when I say that I liked her better than Broadway's Belle (we have the CD). Her speaking voice, acting, and singing voice could double for the movie's version. Just incredible! We were so fortunate to have her!

My daughter was in the youth ensemble, and she played a plate in the enchanted castle. She also enjoyed the whole process, and I think I had so much fun through her! She was a part of some of the best songs in the piece.

It was an exhausting but incredibly fun experience that I am SO glad my family got to participate in. We are already looking forward to the spring production, but right now I'm glad to have some time off!

Okay, I am joining the world of bloggers out there. I spend way too much time on the computer. I figure I might as well let everyone else in on my fun! Most of this site will be dedicated to stamping, but I'm sure some personal notes about myself and my family will creep in here.





I don't know much about blogging and absolutely nothing about HTML, so be patient with me as I learn this new aspect of the cyber world.





Let's see...what should you know about me? Hmmm... well, first I am a wife and mom. Of course my kids are the most beautiful kids in the world! I've got an 11-year-old daughter and a 9-year-old son. I absolutely love rubber stamping, of course, but other hobbies include reading, drawing, and watching TV (yikes).





I am an independent demonstrator for the company Stampin' Up! and I enjoy this. I am pretty much a hobby demonstrator which simply means that I make enough to sustain my habit. I have a stamp club that meets once a month, and I enjoy coming up with projects for these loyal customers.





The first project I'm going to post is a journal I made for my daughter last year while she was at camp. I mailed it to her, and her cabin mates were all very impressed. She loved being able to tell everyone that I made it.





After this, I'll start posting on a regular basis with current projects of my stamp club, some holiday ideas, and who knows what else.

Thanx for reading, and come back soon for some much more interesting posts (I hope).