Goodbye 2012......Hello Giveaway!

Blog Candy is now CLOSED

It is hard to believe how fast this year has gone.  I think that is a sign of getting older! ; ) 

 This has been a year of change, some good, some not so good.  But if nothing, I have learned to roll with the punches, and not sweat the small stuff.  I have learned that laughter IS The best medicine, and to ALWAYS appreciate what you've got.  My life isn't perfect, but for me, I have the perfect life.  I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Last year I made these little ditty's for the Cricut Circle Magazine.  It was a little New Year's invite and treat bag.  ( I really should have filled the treat bag for the photo. : ( 

I used a variety of cartridges here, Boys Will be Boys (numbers), Simply Charmed (Champagne bottle), and the Picturesque Cartridge (Card shape). 

I also used the Number Collage embossing folder for the purple background. I wanted to give the champagne a bit of pop, so I added purple tinsel to the top of the bottle. 

Now to celebrate the change of year, how about a little giveaway?  It is my way of saying thank you for a great year! For supporting me, and visiting me. 

ONE winner will get ALL of this!

What do you have to do?  

Tell me if you make New Year's resolutions.  If you do what are they?

If you would like a second chance to win, you can do any of the following:

Become a follower, post my giveaway on Pinterest, Facebook, or your blog.

Come back and leave me a second comment telling me you do so, and your name will be entered twice! 

A winner will be selected this Wednesday, January 2 at 10 PM CST.

GOOD LUCK!

HAPPY NEW YEAR MY FRIENDS!!!

XOXOX

American Girl Store LO.....

 Cortney and her BFF, Patty go to the American Girl Store every year. It is a fun tradition that the girls look forward to.  Sue and I laugh that we will  still be taking the girls when they are well into their 40's, and we are senior citizens!  ; )

I honored this tradition in a LO I created for the  Cricut Families Magazine. I converted the pictures to black and white and went all girly with my papers and accents.  I used the Heritage Cartridge to cut the cameos and tea set.  The title was cut using Kate's ABC's.  

I found this fun fuzzy trim and knew I had to use it on my LO.  : )

I have lots to catch up on today, so I am off and running this morning!
Have a great weekend!
I think I will be back with a monumental blog candy to bring in the new year! So be sure to check back! ; )

Christmas.....

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday with your families.  I had a wonderful Christmas.  It reminded me how lucky I am.  I have a warm, giving, and supportive family, and great friends.  My MIL and FIL are sending our family to Mexico later this year!  And she was so clever wrapping the gift in a tortilla warmer! ; )  How lucky are we??!!

Kyle loves his computer and PS3.....typical teen! 

Why yes.....yes he is Superman!  

I love this photo of my MIL and Cortney.  The simple joys of Christmas.  Just get her some pink cookies and she is good as gold! 

My FIL  with his Bah Humbug hat.....  

Even Skippers enjoyed opening his gifts....... 

And Alex too......

It warms my heart when Cortney gets excited to participate.  Especially because the last few  months she had been feeling out of sorts.  It was good to see her happy and comfortable again! 

My cute niece Katie..... 

3 generations.....my sister, Cortney, and my cute mom! 

Our house before company......I wish I could say it were that clean right now...... ; ) 

And there's me......... 

George cracking up at Katie's gift.....a camouflage ice mitt! 

Myla's first Christmas gift.......I think she likes it. 

I spray painted ornaments with black chalkboard paint and wrote each person's name on them.  They made cute place markers! 

I will be back later this week with some crafty stuff.  I still need to get my house back in order and spend some time with my family.

Thanks so much for stopping by!!!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Eve to you!  

I am enjoying a cup of coffee before I have to get the kids ready, and begin my cooking.  My family is small, so there is only ten of us,  but you could swear that I was cooking for forty people! ; )

Today I am sharing my last Christmas project of the year. It uses papers from the Crafty Secret's Vintage Christmas Digital CD. I Modged Podged it on a cardboard ornament that I picked up at Hobby Lobby.  I inked the edges and added Helmar's Crackling Medium to the entire ornament.  Once I completed both steps to get this cool crackling effect, I sponged it with brown ink.  It makes the cracks more defined.  

I used a bit of spray adhesive and sprinkled gold glitter around the perimeter of the ornament. 

The flowers were cut using papers from the Christmas CD as well and my Silhouette. I added pearls, gold glitter, and filled in the flowers with greenery from Prima.  As a final touch, I added a gingham bow.

I won't be back until after Christmas, so I wanted to take this moment to wish you a very happy and blessed holiday! 

I am thankful every single day that you choose to visit me, and that you have supported my journey with Cortney (and Kyle too).  

Thank you.

Merry Christmas to you and your families! 

XOXO

Christmas Wishes

Good morning! Today is my cooking day for Christmas Eve.  So before I jump into the kitchen, I thought I'd share a Christmas card that I had made last year.  The problem with posting it a year later is I can't remember for the life of me which Cricut Cartridge I used.  I am thinking it was Paper Lace? The stamps were from Crafty Secrets. 

I had stamped the sentiment on vellum, added lots of "red berries" using pearls and my red Copic marker. I used seam binding, twine, lots of glitter, and some swipes of white paint. 

I know this post is short and not very informative.....please forgive me! Just consider a piece of ""eye candy!" LOL! My brain is bit on overload these last few days!

I will be back tomorrow with my last Christmas project.  (And that one, I DO know what products I used!) ; )

Have a blessed Sunday!

XOXO

Vintage Starbuck's Gift Holders

Like most of you, I am in those last minute holiday preparations.  I still have grocery shopping, cleaning, present shopping, dog grooming, and wrapping to do.  It is a fun, yet sometimes exhausting time of the year. I try to slow down and reflect on the blessings I have and enjoy each moment, but sometimes those deadlines just kind of creep up on you. ; ) 

Yesterday was my last day of school, and I wanted to give something to the aides who help me so much each day.  I bought each of them a Starbucks gift card. 

I used images from the Crafty Secret's Retro Christmas CD. I did a double pocket.  One for the gift card and one for the tag.

I used German glass glitter around the edges and adhered it to the glassine bag.  

I tucked a tag inside with a Christmas sentiment. 

I used some of my homemade rusty jingle bells, some gingham ribbon, and a bit of green twine to tie to the top of the tag. 

I am off to do a bit more Christmas shopping with my son.....wish us luck! 

And give me patience....lots of it! ; )

Snow Kisses

The midwest is expecting a bit of snow tomorrow, so I thought I'd post a card to celebrate the first snowfall of the season.  I created this card using my Cricut and the Quilted Christmas Cartridge.  It was fairly easy to make.  I backed the snowflakes and swirls with silver glittered paper.  I stamped the top with a little snowflake in pink.  The sentiment and the snowflake are stamps from My Craft Spot.  I added a bit of ribbon, jingle bells, rhinestones, and a feather. 

It has been a crazy week.  The kids are anticipating Christmas (as are the teachers...) and they are wound like tops.  We are trying to keep things light, but still trying to get a wee bit of work done. 

It's all a balancing trick. : )

Soon, I will have two weeks to spend with my family and recharge the batteries. 

I am grateful.

Have a great Wednesday!

XOXO

Gingerbread House Wall Hanging....

I have a little wall hanging I created to remember some sweet cookie baking memories!  The cousins got together last year to make their own gingerbread houses.  It was quite a mess, with candy falling all over the floor and frosting in every crevice.....but the memories we made were worth any mess that had been made. 

 I used my Cricut,  Lite Jolly Holidays, and the Gingerbread cartridge. 

I used Jolly Holidays to cut an extra large house to encase my photo collage.  It was cut at 8".  The roof was heavily glittered  : )

The little gingerbread people were cut at 2" and liquid applique was used for the frosting.  And once again, glitter was sprinkled on.  I added a couple of holly leaves and berries to dress up my cookies.  A pink paper straw and some lace were added to finish off the bottom of the house. 

I love to customize my pearls with any color, using Copic markers.  

Today is going to be crazy busy!  Cort has therapy after school and then we are headed to our annual cheerleading dinner/grab bag.  The girls love getting together.....especially when there are presents involved! 

I am a bit behind on crafting lately, as the holidays are fast approaching.  But I'm okay with it.  The holidays only come once a year, and I want to enjoy them. 

I'm off to school for crazy hat and sock day! 

(LOVE spirit week!) 

: )

Sweet Cookies!

 Today's post may be a bit like Deja Vu........since I've been on the baking theme this week.  But these photos are actually from last year's baking experience!  You'll notice the peanut butter cookies are a favorite and are baked every year.  You may have also noticed how Kyle has changed over this past year.  I couldn't believe when I saw last year's photo how much younger he looked! And as always he is dressed in his Sunday best to bake......  ; )  

I used the Sweet Shop Lite cartridge to cut my lil' cookie.  I added some glossy accents to the chocolate chips and found this cute little spatula in my stash.

The title and cookie jar were also cut using the Sweet Shop Lite cartridge.  To add a bit of definition to the jar, I embossed it with the snowflake embossing folder. I added glossy accents to the title for a bit of added definition. The brad is by Basic Grey. 

Last year was the first year, Cortney took any interest in all in helping us bake.  So it was pretty exciting to see both of my children in the kitchen.  It was a sweet moment.  

We have a busy weekend filled with shopping and celebrating our first family Christmas party.  

What are you up to this weekend? Any plans?

Would love to hear!

Hugs to you all!