Merry Christmas...

I am so far behind this year but it's coming to an end. I finished my shopping on my lunch hour today. I whipped out a few cards last night and the night before. I am just about done but I still need to make my mom's. I couldn't send to a bunch of friends, I just ran out of time. I sent out a box of store bought (gasp!) to some of my family as well. Anyway, I used this Baby Bud image which was a freebie from last week. I LOVE their images. This picture is really lousy but I can't take another because it's on it's way to my Godmom in MD.

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year! Oh, and I just have to add a picture of my little granddaughter, Cadence, who is now 4 mos.

It's been a while....

I just wanted to quickly post that I just won Paper Crafts Magazine First Day of Christmas box!! Can't wait to get it and see what's inside.

There's not much new in my life. I don't know where my time goes but I just don't have enough of it for crafting! I think I know...it's my little doll, Cadence. I take her whenever I get the chance and her mom works retail so she's not around weekend days usually. She is talking up a storm and wanting to stand all the time. I can't believe she's only 3 months! Here are a couple of recent photos. Hope all is well with you!!

Candy I'd love to win...

Wow, you have to see this blog candy at Fern's. She's giving away CASH!!! I really could use this for Christmas! I'm sure we all could. Go and check it out!

Little birdie...

I was in the kitchen making my lunch this morning when I heard a small thud. I looked over at the windows and didn't see anything. Then I looked again and saw this tiny little bird (maybe 6 inches tall?) hanging on the screen. I got my camera and took a photo. I thought for sure the bird would fly off when it saw the flash but its little head was hanging back. Then I got up to the window and it still didn't move. I thought for sure it was dead.






















I tapped on the window and it started to move slowly. Then I tapped again and its little head looked around and he flew off. I was so happy it wasn't dead!


























Also, thanks for the foliage comments for those of you who don't have it! Here's the change in a week. It did get prettier but it's still not as beautiful as last year. I'm missing my vibrant red/orange! Hope everyone had a nice Halloween!

Happy Halloween...

There are a few of you who aren't on FB or my favorite message board, so I'm posting pictures of my little 2 month old granddaughter, Cadence.

We went to an Oktoberfest party and they dressed her in this adorable outfit. I just had to get a picture of the back because it was so funny with her skinny little legs. She loves to stand on them. I can't believe how strong she is! I'll post another one or two as well. I can't wait to see Cadence in her little ladybug outfit on Sunday!! Thanks for looking and have a Happy Halloween!!

Weird Foliage...

Hey, I know it's been a while. I decided to post about the weird foliage this year. It's just starting to get pretty out my family room window but the back yard is still kind of ugly. Here are a few pictures I took on my way to work this morning. The first is from the driveway looking down one side of our neighborhood. The next is the back yard. Then heading down the other side of the neighborhood. Normally it would be really vibrant reds & oranges but this year some trees have no leaves and some haven't changed yet.































Then I got to work early so I took a couple looking out my window. It's normally drop dead gorgeous and every single person coming in says so. We get sick of hearing it since we usually have our back toward the windows. I know we're very lucky for this view though. Again, it's weird this year. One tree is almost bare, one big one hasn't changed and the others are pretty. There is a gorgeous orange tree in the courtyard. If I can remember, I'll take a photo during lunch.

Happy Fall, Y'all! LOL

I won, I won, I won~!!!!

I am soooooooo excited! I won Wendy's Bakers Twine candy!!!! Yay, can't wait to play with it! Wendy made my day!

Bakers twine candy....

Oh my, I would LOVE to win this twine!~ I've been search locally for it with no luck. Go on over and check out Wendy's blog for details on how you can win.

Digi Stamp Boutique Candy!!

I just LOVE Digi Stamp Boutique images!! You need to go and check out this candy they're offering! I would love to win!!

Candy...

Go on over to Get Picky and check out how you can win this candy!

Update...

Well, I've been busy lately. I usually get to hold little C after work. I try to eat my dinner before my son and his gf. Then I can hold her while they eat. It's usually her fussy time but Nana settles her down! LOL I usually end up napping with her on my chaisse.

She's three weeks old now and is more alert every day. She had trouble gaining weight for a bit so she just finally hit 7 lbs. with the help of formula. Anyway, I love her to pieces. Here's a photo of her in her sparkly shoes. They are pink but they look red. She always has her hands at her face, under her chin or crossed. It looks like we pose her but we honestly don't! I'll post another so you can see what I mean.

Wanna win some adorable freebies?.....

Check out Lori's blog for details on how to win 5 Lollipop digi stamps! Aren't they adorable?!

My little girl...

I know most of you are on Facebook and have seen these, but I thought I'd post for the non-FBers.

My first grandchild was born today at 9:23 a.m. Her name is Cadence and she weighed 6 lbs., 11 oz. 19 inches long. She's a little peanut! We just got back from the hospital. I held her for a long time and just stared. She's adorable. She has my son's eyes and cute little nose and her mom's gorgeous lips - not that I'm partial or anything!! LOL She's a little marked up right now. Can't wait until she comes home on Friday!

No sleep, hiatus and one more friggin candle...

I am so tired today. I went to bed at 10(very early) and the thunderstorm woke me up around 11:30. Got up again at 1:30 and then at 3:30. I could not sleep after that. I shut my alarm off before it went off at 6. Luckily I have a semi easy day.

I've been thinking of taking a hiatus from blogging. I just don't think it's worth my time. Let's face it, I'm not winning any competitions with my cards (and don't want to be), I'm not interested in being on any DTs even if I had the talent, I don't like making cards that require a box for shipping, etc. I truly enjoy making simple cards that my family and friends enjoy. I think I may spend more time actually stamping and scrapping if I just quit posting. I like to browse blogs and I'll probably continue to do so, but who knows. My granddaughter will be coming any time now and she'll be taking more time away too. I cannot wait to hold her and all the other fun things. I'll probably post when she's born and share a photo or two.

For now, here are two simple cards I made. The first is for my 10 yo. nephew Zach who is very young minded. The cute robot is from Lost in Paper Scraps.























I made this with a Bugaboo stamp (just love their images!!). Inside it says, "What's One More Friggin Candle?" This is for my good friend who turned 50 today. So glad she finally caught up to me! LOL

Chicken on you...

I have to apologize once again, I don't have the source of this cute chicken on my home computer but I'm pretty sure it's Back to Paper. I made it for a friend who is dealing with family issues after losing her mom. **Ok, now I feel really stupid. I just realized it's not a chicken, it's a goose!! I guess I don't know my farm animals very well.

What a gorgeous day out today! We had breakfast on the deck and I sat in the sun to work on my tan (bad, I know). I was sweating when I came back in!
There's a gorgeous breeze and it's nice and dry out, but man that son is hot!!! I need to clean so I can get out to the pool. Hopefully it'll warm up between now and then. It's only 70!!!

It's a circus....

A friend of mine was invited to a wedding and it's a circus theme. I can't even imagine that! They sent out tickets as an invitation. I can't wait to see the pictures. I heard the ushers were wearing Converse High Tops. Anyway, she asked me to make a circus wedding card. HUH?!! This is all I could come up with. I used a cute elephant image from Lost in Paper Scraps.




We had a big family cookout over the weekend and had lots of fun with family from MI, NH and MA. The kids enjoyed the pool and the adults had fun mingling. I'm still trying to recover.

Family fun weekend...

I'm so looking forward to the weekend. First I have a family cookout on Sat. with my family. My cousin from Oregon is in town and her sister is in from Washington, DC. I'm not sure about my cousin from NYC yet. It should be fun.

Sunday I have the entire Q clan (dh's family) plus a few add-ons coming over. My BIL & SIL are coming out from MI with their four kids so we wanted to get everyone together. My other SIL has her Brother & SIL visiting with their two kids so they're coming. I think we'll have close to 30. The kids should have fun in the pool!

I do have a lot of work though. I need to make broccoli salad for Sat. AND Sun. and make potato salad and a few other things for Sun. Then I need to clean. Oh boy! I'm so glad I have Monday off!

I made this for my friend who was just diagnosed with breast cancer. I kind of rushed through the other night but at least she'll know I'm thinking of her, right?! The cute image is from Di's Digi Downloads.

Not awake....

I have to have blood work today so I haven't had any coffee or anything to eat. I can wait until 10 to eat breakfast on a normal day, but I NEED my three cups of coffee. I am dragging today. I can't wait to get the appt. over so I can grab a cup of coffee and some food. It may even be a Dunk's iced coffee day. I usually have my three cups of hot coffee each day and then water for the rest. So maybe a treat is in order today.

Anyway, I made this for my aunt's birthday. I find myself making almost flat cards lately because I just do not have the time to go to the post office to get them handstamped with extra postage.

I got this freebie image a while ago so I'm not sure of the source. I will search and update if I can!

Old man....

Oh boy, did I mess up!! My favorite male cousin's birthday was on the 22nd. I started to color in the image but never got around to finishing. Last night I figured I'd sit down and finish it. I thought it was THIS Thursday, not last! I am never late for birthdays. If anything, I'm early. I feel so bad because he's done so many favors and has always been there for me. I wrote a note joking about age so maybe he'll understand since he's younger than me. LOL Orange is his favorite color.

I love this funny image from Inklined! I saw it on the Free Digital Stamps blog and knew exactly who I would be sending it to!

Laundry love...

I've never wanted to do laundry so much in my life. My son's gf did a load of baby clothes, just in case they need to pack something quickly. It was in the dryer and I kept going by telling myself to leave it for her. I didn't want to take away that privilege from her.

My son came upstairs and I told him he had no idea how badly I wanted to fold that laundry. He said to go for it so I practically ran into the laundry room. Oh, it smells so nice. They bought Method Sweet Pea baby laundry detergent. I'm in love.

I cannot wait to meet my granddaughter!!! She's due in just about a month. How cute are these little stacks?!! I have to admit, they're not the easiest things to fold. They are so tiny! I counted 25 onesies for this child, all newborn!

Pink Gem candy...

Go on over and check out these cute little girl stamps, bling, pretty flowers, etc. at Pink Gem. I would LOVE to win!!

Le bebe....

My friend in France had a boy and it's her first. I love this image!! It's from Sassy Cheryl's The colors are slightly off.

Unfortunately I'll be going back to work. I hope I don't have a pile on my desk but I'm expecting one. Hope everyone had a nice weekend!!

The end....

Well, my vacation has just about come to an end. It was a decent one. We went for two rides to the coast. Of course, I'd rather have a day at the beach but my hubby can't be in the sun that long so my toes didn't get sandy. We had nice weather with one rainy day in the middle. That worked out well since we got some errands done.

Here are a couple of pics including a card I made as a thank you for a "nana" gift from my aunt. I can't locate the source at the moment but I love the cute little turtle on the bigger one.

A wish....

I got this image on a blog hop the other day. I actually found it but the link wouldn't work so a friend sent it to me. You know who you are, thank you!! I love this image. It's from Designed 2 Delight. You should check out their cute images! The paper is SU all the way. This is for my godchild/niece who is 30 something! Red is her favorite color.

I'm hoping the weather improves. It was supposed to be gorgeous today but it's looking a little cloudy. We'll be staying at home around the pool today so it better get better! Here's what I did yesterday.

** Edit/Update - We just got a severe thunderstorm warning on the tv so I ran out to bring towels in, put umbrellas down, etc. It's pouring right now!

Vacation...

Yippeeeeee! I'm on vacation at 5 p.m. today! We're not planning on going away but we may end up finding something for a night or two. We'll most likely just hang by the pool like this cute little girl from Michelle Perkett Studio. I made this for my niece who is a redhead. She's actually more brown/red but her favorite color is orange.

I also wanted to post the amazing sky from last night (sorry for the duplication FBers!). I was making a card for a soldier when my cell rang. It was my hubby calling from the pool. He said to come on out and hurry. I grabbed my camera on the way out thinking the bunnies were back or maybe we had a deer out there. It was this strange looking sky. I thought it was a rainbow at first.

So sad...

My friend's mom passed away the other day so I made her this card. She was such a funny lady. I remember when I first met her family when we lived in MI. They took us in on holidays. One of my best Thanksgivings was with them. I made stuffing with her mom and laughed with the rest of the family all day until it was time to leave. The sad part was I was moving to PA the next day. I cried all the way to PA and she cried the whole day too. I'm so glad we still keep in touch after 24 years. I consider her my best friend.

The other funny memory with her family is when I went to visit about 5 yrs. ago. We ended up playing dominoes with her mom, dad and sister. We drank margaritas and ate olives (my first time ever on the olives). We laughed so hard we cried. Anyway, enough rambling. RIP Gloria. You will be missed.


Can someone tell me why I cannot get this photo to load the right way? It's saved in landscape so why does it come out portrait?! Drives me insane.

Fourth of July revisited...

I just realized that I whizzed by the Fourth without blinking. I always forget whether I've posted on FB or another message board I go to, or blogger. My 4th was fantastic! We relaxed in our new pool all day, cooked some fabulous food and had some margaritas. Then the fireworks started. I had a view of the fireworks from a couple of towns surrounding us and then all the private displays. It was tremendous!! I sat on the porch for a bit and looked across the street and to the left and right. They were everywhere!! I am truly amazed at the amount of money people must spend on their fireworks. And actually, the third was better than the fourth!! My hubby said he'd never spend money on fireworks when he can see so many for free! LOL When it was too buggy, we just watched from the family room windows. Wow, it really was amazing! No more fighting crowds for us.

Every time I clicked, the display would fizzle out or if I anticipated a nice one, I clicked too early. I am not a good photographer! Here's what I got.