Santa brought me this awesome mini sewing machine

so I can sew on my cards. Its a Janome Sew Mini machine and it is super easy to use!!! I made these 3 cards today. (the stitching isn't perfect but I have to play with it some more. I am pretty happy with what I did so far.)

Happy New Years Eve "eve"

Can you believe 2008 is just about here? 2007 sure went fast!! Charlie left early this morning to drive his mother back to Virginia so I have been stamping a few cards while the rain is just coming down. We DESPARATELY need rain so let it rain, let it rain, let it rain :). I hope we get 6" at least. lol Here are the cards I've made today.

Did everyone have a wonderful Christmas?

Well its over ... Christmas is over .. until next year :). We are actually having our big Christmas gathering today. Everyone is expected around noon for lunch then we will have a turkey, ham and all the trimmings for dinner. Expecting about 15. I have everyone done and ready to go. The turkey is in the oven now :).

Had a nice day yesterday. I got a new digital Canon camera .WOW, is that thing speedy!! Also got the bigger lens to go with it to take really close up shots. I will try it out today. Also got a mini sewing machine to sew on my cards. I have been wanting to try that but hate the thought of dragging out my BIG sewing machine just to sew on paper. This new machine weighs just 5 lbs and is so cute! lol Emily is having lots of fun with her Apple laptop computer and Nicholas loves his Ipod itouch. Santa was good at the Thacker's this year. Ok I must go and make sure everything is ready :).

P.S. The new TAC catalog is awesome. Alot of really neat sets and I think I have about 7 on my wish list. I actually got the new TAC catalog, the new Stampin Up catalog and the new CTMH catalog all within 2 days of each other. WOW!! lol

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

I want to wish all of my family & friends a very Merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas Eve!!

Today is the day. Santa Claus comes tonight to millions of homes all over the world. Are the kiddos ready!? I am also waiting for my new TAC catalog to come. Our complimentary issues were mailed last Thursday so there is a chance it may come today. I am anxious to see what new stamps we have in it. If anyone needs one, I am expecting a box of 10 to come next week so just shoot me an email or pm and I will be happy to mail you one. They are $7.00 and that includes priority shipping :).

Autism Awareness

The band, Five for Fighting, is generously donating $0.40 to Autism Speaks for *each time* the video is viewed. The funding goes toward research studies to help find a cure. When you have a moment, please visit the link below to watch the video and pass it along to your friends and family.

Click for Video

I hope you don't mind I copied this from your blog Lesa.

Introducing .... Maggie from Sugar Nellie

I found these cute cards here at this website. I went to their website and placed an order. I ordered 3 stamps and got them in 10 days. Not bad for all the way from Scotland!!! They come unmounted so I added my own EZMount to them. I also had a hard time figuring out how much US dollars they cost so I emailed them and they got right back to me, paid by paypal and now I can play with my new stamps. I made this card today while everyone else is frantically doing their last minute Christmas shopping. lol

Isn't she just the cutest thing?!??!?!?

I think Emily needs to open her very own art gallery

She came home with 2 more prints that she painted in Art 2.

I got the dogs to do a photo shoot with me today ...

What do you think?????

Who likes the Christmas Story movie?

I can't wait to watch it. Charlie ordered it and it came in the mail this week.

Planning my menu for Christmas lunch & dinner ...

Ok, its less than a week away so I figure its time to start planning my menu. We will have the big gathering here the day AFTER Christmas. On Christmas Day, it will be just us. I am expecting 17 to come the day after. Tell me what you think of this menu.

Lunch: Pigs in blanket, Meatballs in crockpot, Pinwheel sandwiches, Fruit salad, deviled eggs

Dinner: Ham, turkey, mashed potatoes & gravy, green beans, corn, cranberry sauce, rolls, and 3 desserts

Am I forgetting anything?

Emily's latest math project - Cupcakes anyone?

The first thing Emily had to do was build a Star Polyhedron out of paper. It could be any size.




Then she could make anything she wanted out of this star and she had to decorate the star by painting it and then working around that star.

She made these real-looking cupcakes. She could not use real food so we had to decide what would make great looking cupcakes. Went to HL and bought styrofoam balls, cut off the bottoms so they would be flat fitting in the cupcake liners. Found really cute cupcake liners with cupcakes on the liners (Erin, you would love the liners!). Can you see how cute the liners are Erin?

The frosting was next, what to use for the frosting? Next to the styrofoam balls was this Smooth Finish Paint and it is specifically used for styrofoam balls so we mixed some of that with some food coloring to get the different colors. The one cupcake with the "candle" in it has a different texture as the frosting. We used Decorative Snow for that one. It was a bit chunky so we tried the other stuff and that seemed to work out better. I think they came out really nice and let's see if she gets an A+++. lol

Another FANTASTIC picture painted by the one and only Emily Thacker

this time on a canvas ... another one we must get framed. Don't you agree?

And we thought it was cold YESTERDAY ...

The thermometer read 15 degrees this morning when Emily went to school. Now that is COLD!!! Nicholas is going on a field trip today to see some Christmas play so I hope they have heat on the school buses. I have no idea if they have heat or not!! LOL We went to Toyota yesterday and test drove a brand new 2008 Highlander Hybrid. LOVE IT!!! It drove really quiet, really nice and yes now I want one but they are so new and so rare (supposedly only 30 hybrid Highlanders in the whole southeast) that they aren't really giving great deals so we will wait until they do. I think I will get some baking done today. Since its sooooo cold outside, why not stay inside and bake some Christmas cookies? Will report back later ...

Brrrr...its cold outside. Woke up to 24 degrees

and the grass went "crunch crunch" when the dogs walked on it. Finally got some much needed rain this weekend. We are like 16" BELOW where we should be and I think we got an inch but hey, we will take it!!! Going to be only in the mid 40's today and Charlie wants to look at new cars. Oh doesn't that sound like fun?? I need to get baking my Christmas cookies. Every night after dinner Charlie says "Sure would be nice to have some homemade Christmas cookies". Think he is hinting at something? LOL So maybe I can get to those today or tomorrow. Now the trick for ME is to not eat them all!

Made 2 more Christmas cards today ... different colorings on them though

Tell me which one you like best...

1) This one I used prismacolor pencils and gamsol.
2) This one I colored with my Stampin Up markers

Santa stamp by Rubbernecker. Tiny snowman stamp by Stampendous
Paper by Basic Grey Figgy Pudding
Glitter on hat and star

Got some new Elzybell stamps and some new Amuse stamps ...

and of course, I had to ink them up :).

Got candle?

I saw the cutest card here and had to copy the idea using a candle on the actual card.

Christmas Survey

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hot Chocolate is #1, egg nog is a close #2
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Santa's presents are never wrapped at our house. Presents from mom and dad are wrapped
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? White lights on trees and colored lights outide
4. Do you hang mistletoe? No
5. When do you put up your decorations? This is the first year I put them up the day after Thanksgiving. That might be my new tradition.
6. What is your favorite holiday dish? Pumpkin Pie
7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child? Sneaking into my mom & dad's closet and peeking at my presents. I did this every year and never got caught! LOL
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I don't remember that long ago!!
9. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? I have one tree with just snowmen on it and the other tree has all different ornaments on it.
10. Snow! Love it or Dread it? Love it but then we never get any.
11. Can you ice skate? Never tried
12. Do you remember your favorite gift? Not particular
13. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Being with family and friends
14. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Pumpkin Pie
15. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Driving around with the kids AND dogs looking at Christmas lights
16. What tops your tree? on one tree I have an angel and on my snowman tree I have a snowman at the top
17. Which do you prefer giving or receiving? Definitely giving
18. What is your favorite Christmas Song? Christmas Waltz by the Carpenters
19. Candy Canes? Yum

Post this on your blog and fill in your own answers! Please don't post your answers here, put them on YOUR blog. I posted my answers accidentally to Becky B's blog. LOL

Look at this adorable snowman and coffee mug Christmas ornament

Mary gave me these yesterday while we were at Dunkin Donuts. Its hard to tell in this photo but they are both very tiny. She picked up the snowman at a Pottery show a couple of weeks ago. It has actual sticks as arms from an azaela bush (which we have plenty of if one of the arms break). The snowman only measures 1 3/4" tall. Thanks so much Mary! I love both of them!!

Another 81 degree day!!!

Met up with Mary and Lorraine at Dunkin Donuts this morning. We sat there talking and laughing for almost 4 hours!! What the heck!? Why weren't we walking in a park somewhere walking OFF those donuts? It was a beautiful summer-like day!! I asked this AFTER I left. lol We had fun and it was great to catch up although we all miss Robin. She would always be there with us!!! She was there with us in spirit though.

How do I add a link in my thread?

I have tried and tried to get this but it never worked ... until now. Say you want to send someone to a certain website. Well, instead of typing the whole entire website like I normally do you can do this shortcut by doing it like this (see below). Thanks to Sherry Graves for teaching me this EASY technique!!! LOL

Getting a link to appear within your thread is easy. For instance, if you want your message to look something like this: Check out this link Here's how you would do it using the example above:
Type your sentence (ie. Check out this link).
Highlight the words in your sentence that you want to represent your link. In the example above, I highlighted the words "this link"
Click on the button that looks like a chain link with a globe behind it.
Type or paste your url
Hit 'OK'
You're done

Its sooooooooooooo easy!! Try it on your blog next time.

I stumbled across this neat blog today ....

http://www.stampinwhenican.blogspot.com/ You will have to check it out. Every day or so she posts Newly discovered blogs, great tutorials on how to make things, and all the blog challenges out there. Plus she has an awesome gallery herself. Check it out if you haven't yet. Neat stuff!!

80 degrees in December?

What happened to Old Man Winter? I think he skipped the Carolinas and is stuck up north. We hit a record yesterday and my car temp said 80 degrees around 5 pm. I wore shorts, a tank top and flip flops. Is Christmas really in 2 weeks?!?!??!?! Supposed to be hot again today and tomorrow then cooling off the end of the week. I want cool weather back!! Thought I'd share these photos I took over the weekend.

How about one more Christmas card?

I ran out of Christmas cards and realized I need to make a few more so this is what i am working on tonight.

Stamps by Hero Arts

Paper by Lasting Impressions

I paper pieced the tree and the bird

Punch out circle tags by Stamp Shack (I added my tiny snowman)

Also did some paper piercing at the top and bottom

Glitter on star

Added Stampendous class a peel stickers to bottom of tree

I think this cartoon is so funny ....

I cracked up laughing. Reminds me of someone with the initials D.A. but I will not tell who that is. LOL

I know, I know ... its a little early to be doing my Easter cards but I wanted to try this triangle fold card

and I found the tutorial here: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/triangletrifold.php (They are kind of hard to see but you can click on each photo and they will enlarge them more and they are much clearer that way.) I just got this easter bunny stamp from Lockhart Stamps last week so I wanted to try it out. How do you like it? This was really easy and it makes a pretty small card (3 1/2 x 3 1/2).

I got these 2 stamp from High Hopes Rubber Stamps http://www.highhopesstamps.com/. They are in Canada but I got my stamps within 1 week!! The cute little worm has glitter on him but you can't tell from this photo. lol

Its only 17 days until Christmas and it was near 70 degrees today ...

in the Carolinas. The day was just perfect!!! I had my capris and flip flops on with a tank top. Just wonderful. Our friends Linda & Steve came over with their family and we took some photos. Mindy is my 9 yo godchild and CJ is her brother. Linda & I met at a mother's morning group when Emily and CJ were just 3 weeks and 5 weeks old and have been friends for over 15 years now.

What is your Grinch name?

Click on this to find out what your Grinch name is: http://www.yourgeekfriend.com/GrinchName/GrinchName.php

Mine is: Miserlygrinch Crustyfinger.

That is too funny!!!!

Not much new to report except it is COLD COLD COLD outside!!!

Its 31 degrees at 7:30 pm and its dipping down into the 20's tonight. On the news tonight, they are saying we will be up to 75 degrees on Monday. Wow, what a difference!! I think we will finally get our outside lights up then. We don't put up too many but Charlie MUST put up his Christmas palm trees so he can "wish" we were back in Florida. He's been waiting for it to warm up so I say Monday sounds good for that.

I went back to the allergy dr today and they ran a bunch of blood tests. If I don't take my Allegra everyday, then I either get hives on my feet or my lips swell up. The last skin tests they did about 2 months ago showed I am ONLY allergic to cats (which I already knew that!) and we don't even have a cat. So it must be something!! I won't get the results back till Dec 20th. That sure seems like a long time!! They took like 7 vials of blood. I'm surprised I have any left!! LOL

Oh I know what happened today that was exciting!! I got an email from a person wanting to know if she could BUY 3 snowmen Christmas ornaments. How cool is that?! So I will ship those off in the next day or so. I was so excited!!

No more snow flurries. I knew they wouldn't last! Darn!!

I wanted to share my sunset photos with all of you ...

I took these last night. It was so pretty!!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.... but in Concord,NC?

Yes we saw a few flakes this morning. And by few, I mean like 4 TOTAL!! LOL (The photos here are snowflakes from my Christmas tree but you get the idea!) I was going to volunteer at the middle school and I was driving along and what do I see?! A snowflake could it be? (Hey that even rhymes!) I knew it was cold out but it wasn't cold enough for snow so how and why did it do that?! My temp gauge was reading 46 degrees. So I just told myself I was seeing things. About 20 minutes later, I was in the computer lab and I looked outside and there it was again ... more snowflakes. Maybe 3 more TOTAL! LOL That was it. I am sure it is the talk of the town since we NEVER get snow this early. ha ha

I do think we have an artist in the family ....

I just have to show off Emily's latest drawings she did in Art 2. Of course, the flip flop drawing is my absolute favorite and I will definitely be framing that and hanging in my stamp room. Isn't it great??

Some observations about the snowmen ornaments ...

1) I paint the faces last. If you make a boo boo, just wipe it clean before it dries and it wipes right off.
2) I did some ornaments with wire and some without. I can't tell a difference with wire so I eliminated that step in most of them. The ribbon seems to hold the sock on just fine as long as you use some sort of sticky tape to hold the sock on. I used Stampin Up's sticky strip tape that comes in a long red roll.
3) I found some of the "fluffier" socks at Walmart but these don't stick as well using the sticky tape. I prefer the Target $ spot socks. They stay on better.
4) That's all I can think of right now :).