Day 364, Wednesday, December 30

I finished the 12 tags of christmas...aka Tim Holtz! I sent him the picture...so I hope I win the big prize! On his blog, he is offering a grand prize for those who make all of the tags this year. Each day he drew random names from the comments on his blog and gave away a bunch of products. It was alot of work, but lots of fun at the same time. I learned many techniques that I had only read about and never tried. I will certainly try some again!

Day 363, Tuesday, December 29

We met at Kouri's tonight for dinner. It was busy as the Holiday Basketball Tournament had begun. We had a great time with our family tonight!

Day 362, Monday, December 28

This is the apartment building that Jim and I lived in when we got married 33 years ago. We were the first tenants in that apartment. We lived there for just under 2 years. I remember our rent was $175 a month. Ours was on the second floor, left side. The big window was the living room and the smaller window was the bedroom. I didn't miss carrying laundry or groceries up those steps when we moved to our house!

Day 361, Sunday, December 27

So, it has been snowing....alot! I didn't even go out in it...just stuck the camera out the door. I got all of the Christmas decorations taken down and put away. All of the snowmen have homes for a while!

Day 360, Saturday, December 26

I got Gift Cards!!!

Day 359, Friday, December 25, Christmas Day

John, Stacie, Me, Jim and Nate...getting ready to open our stockings! There were lots of great "prizes" (as Stacie always says!). We had lottery tickets to scratch, too. There were only 3 tickets that were winners...3 - $3 tickets. After everyone left, we took a little Christmas nap!

Day 358, Thursday, December 24, Christmas Eve

Rachel, Dad, Mom, Jim, Scott and Jill in front. The Smith family. There were several cameras going at once...so everybody is looking in different directions. But we didn't care...they were all together! Merry Christmas.

Day 357, Wednesday, December 23

Peyton spent the night...we made some dipped pretzels. He is such a great helper. He liked doing the sprinkles the best. He ate several at a time...especially since the chocolate dried differently on every one!!

Day 356, Tuesday, December 22

Peyton and I went to pick up my parents today. They flew in from Yuma, Arizona. Petyon was sooooo happy to see Momaw and Poppie!

Day 355, Monday, December 21

This is the wreath on top of Fondulac Drive. It is lit during the Festival of Lights...through New Years Eve. During the day, you see the skelton....a ferris wheel.

Day 354, Sunday, December 20

We were out doing some last minute Christmas shopping today. It started to snow. I thought these trees were so pretty.

Day 353, Saturday, December 19

Congratulations, Peter! Our nephew graduated from University of Missouri, today.

Day 352, Friday, December 18

The staff and students at school participated in a Christmas Sing, today. During "Jingle Bells", our music director had all of the staff stand in the front and "jingle" the bells. It was a lot of fun. About half way through the song....I thought this should be my picture of the day. I have 2 weeks off...until January 4. Next week will be really busy at home, but the week after will be a week of rest and I hope working in the scrap cave!

Day 351, Thursday, December 17

Stan and I have been collecting the cans for the food drive. We weigh the non-parishable food the students bring to school. Our local fire department picks it up...adds the parishables like turkey, milk and eggs and delivers baskets to families who would other wise would not have a very Merry Christmas. The class that brings in the most pounds...get a pizza party. Sadly, this year we collected about 900 pounds less than last year and well, our families are having a harder time making ends meet.

Day 350, Wednesday, December 16

Made this ornament with a Stampin' Up snowman, a frame from Michael's and a few little snowflakes from Hobby Lobby. I colored it using the MCPT.

Day 349, Tuesday, December 15

My November calendar. My Chirpin' Chick Jackie made this layout.

Day 348, Monday, December 14

My take on the glitter ornaments. I liked the Martha Stewart fine glitter the best. The darker colors worked best for me. All I did ... pour Pledge with Future shine inside the glass balls. Sprinkled glitter inside and shook until the entire inside was covered in glitter. Replaced the metal top, added a bow and tag...very quick, colorful project. All of these ornaments were in my "stash" already, left over from my tole painting days!

Day 347, Sunday, December 12

I will come back here an post a picture after Christmas. Well, it is after Christmas...Stacie gave John the table. If you can see...we made a shamrock in the center of the table with Bud Light bottle caps...in the center is a "flattened" beer bottle and in each leaf of the shamrock there are green pebbles and green bottle caps. Then we placed all the "other" caps around the edge. We taped the edge with painters tape and poured Enviro-tex over the entire top. After it was dry, I pulled the tape off, then poured again and again until it ran over the edge. John really liked his table and it will go in the poker room!

Day 346, Saturday, December 12

Merry Christmas! Tonight was the Christmas Party for Morton Buildings. We had dinner at the Par-a-dice Hotel. The dinner was delicious! There were lots of prizes...however, Jim didn't win one, but that was okay....he has won several prizes over the last few years. There was a video that was funny. They do one every year...this year it was a spin off of the academy of awards. We all laughed...out loud.

Day 345, Friday, December 11

I'd like to introduce to you....our new little girl, Jersey. She was born on October 22 and came to live with Jen last saturday! Jen is so proud of her new little puppy!! She brought her to school to show her off. She is so sweet. Puppies are the best! Except for puppy breath, lol!

Day 344, Thursday, December 10

This is the same flower bed that I took pictures of this summer. All of the flowers have been moved to other flower beds. Now there are wooden reindeer decorating this flower bed. Several years ago, there was a contest in town to decorate the best reindeer. Some businesses still display their reindeer. The park district also places trees around the edge of the lagoon and roads. Community members donate funds to decorate the trees in memory of loved ones.

Day 343, Wednesday, December 9

I have this large vase that I put seasonal flowers in....well, I saw this type of vase with the ornaments in it on Becky Higgins blog. Mine isn't just like hers, but it is similar!

Day 342, Tuesday, December 8

This is our 2009 Rolan Johnson ornament. We have been buying them since the beginning in 1995 or 1996. Rolan Johnson is a local artist who has passed away. He made Christmas cards to send to his family and friends. The cards were mosiac printing with many colors. The ornaments are two sided and make of 24 kt gold plated.

Snowman Tag

I colored this Whipper snapper snowman using the Magic Colored Pencil Technique. The stamp is a tag that I used on my Chirpin' Chicks gift at our party tonight. I should have added some glitter or stickles to the scarf...but I needed it done quick!

Day 341, Monday, December 7

Our Chirpin' Chicks Cookie/Recipe exchange and Christmas party was tonight. The girls made 5 dozen cookies to trade. I didn't make cookies or recipe pages, but wish I had gotten copies of the pages...just for the art work. (Maybe Cindy will let me shoot pics of her pages, so I can post them!) These girls are very creative! We ordered pizza from Monical's. We had a $10 gift exchange...we drew numbers to see who picked a gift first. When it was your turn, you could steal a gift from someone else or pick a new one. We had a really good time. Thanks, Linda for hosting our party again this year!

Jackie brought her album already decorated. She put the pages in her book as they were passed around. Jennifer brought her book, too!

Jen and Kim

The girls set the cookies out and lined up to assemble their cookies in the boxes. I soooo wanted to eat those cookies....but I didn't even eat a crumb!

Day 340, Sunday, December 6

We went to see the movie The Blind Side. I don't know anything about football....except you need to get the ball into the end zone. I was a little afraid that I wouldn't be able to follow it...but there wasn't too much technical stuff...so it was an awesome movie. I'd like to buy this one! Just goes to prove that your enviroment plays a part in your life...more than you will ever know!

Day 339, Saturday, December 5

This, I am afraid, is just the beginning. We started our Christmas shopping today. We did get alot done...but still have a fair amount to do.

Day 338, Friday, December 4

Run, Run just as fast as you can! You can't catch me...I'm the gingerbread man! Well, Ryan, a student teacher in our Pre-K class, is holding the freshly baked gingerbread man. The students added the decorations...(do you know how bad gummy worms smell when they are being baked?)(Or how much they run?) So the gingerbread man "ran away". When the children came to get him out of the oven...he was gone! They had to find him in the building....and then they ate him for a snack! Thanks Ryan for posing as the potd!

Day 337, Thursday, December 3

Went to my friend Nikki's tonight for a Stampin' Up workshop. Nikki always has awesome projects for us to do. Tonight we did a mini album, gift bag with tag, little box with gift tags and a black and white photo cube...you can clip pics to it. I want the die cut for the tags and the scallop square...maybe Santa will read my blog and drop them down the chimney for me!

Christmas Cards

These are some Christmas cards that I have been working on. I colored them all with the Magic Colored Pencil Techique...which is my favorite way to color images. The colors stay so bright! This card is an "easel card". I will fold flat to fit in an envelope...well, it did fit in an envelope...I mailed to someone already!

Day 336, Wednesday, December 2

This ornament is one of my most favorite ones. Cindy made this for me for christmas several years ago. She cut the wood and painted it for me. The story behind it...she had to go out back and get a few "twigs" for the snowman arms...well she got into the poison ivy and had to go to the doctor.

Day 335, Tuesday, December 1

I finished my December Magic Colored Pencil Technique card. The santa image is a Stampin' Up and I colored it with my prisma pencils. I cut the tree from the Christmas Noel cartridge sizing it to fit my card in Design Studio. I added stickles and doodling to the snow and outer edge. I cuttlebugged the red background paper with the snowflake folder. The presents are a square punch and I inked and doodled and added ribbon bows. The "believe" is a charm I got at Michaels. This card is a step card and you can find a video on Dawn's Stamping Blog.

Day 334, Monday, November 30

Yes, this is Giz with the cone on his head. He has been itching and chewing on his paw pads and legs for several days. I took him to the vet today...he has a yeast infection and a bacterial infection in his skin. He also had to have a biosopy on some lumps on his legs and one behind his ear. Thank goodness they are just a skin cyst that one day may have to be removed. He is on 3 different meds now and I have to give him a bath with special shampoo every other day.

Day 333, Sunday, November 29

I bought a new tree!!! It is a slim line. I had to look all over to get one that would fit in the basement family room. Most of the slim line trees are 7 1/2 feet high....we could only have one that was 7 feet. Each branch has to be placed in the center pole. Kinda a pain, but I do like the way it looks!

Day 332, Saturday, November 28

We went shopping for new phones today. Jim got the blackberry curve. I have no idea what mine is called...just got the full keyboard so I can text! And it is green! We did add outgoing texting to our phone plan. Jim now has internet access on his phone.

Day 331, Friday, November 27

BLACK FRIDAY!!!! These are all of the ads that came in the paper yesterday. It was tempting to go out shopping...however, I didn't want to go by myself or push through the crowds. We may do some shopping this weekend...but not until there are fewer people around. Usually, we go during the week after Black Friday.

Day 330, Thursday, November 26 Happy Thanksgiving!

John and Stacie are thankful for each other, having jobs through 2009 and family & friends (everyone says that!)

Jim was thankful that his parents are home and doing well, Nate was thankful to have somewhat of a job and I am thankful for losing some weight and getting healthier. We are thankful for our family & friends, too!

Cyndi was thankful for Peyton and Rob & her having jobs. Peyton was thankful for food (as he was shoveling in a piece of pumpkin cake!), thanksgiving, his Mom & Dad and that he didn't have to go to school today! And of course, family & friends.