I was featured...and it's not too late...

I received an email yesterday

from someone saying they liked my thank you note

that was posted on another blog...

Huh?

So I went tothe blog that was mentioned...

and I saw this (well, close 'nough):

Friday, December 30, 2011The Inspiration Board: link party spotlight ~30~


We’re on the homestretch of the holiday season and on the verge of a new year. I want to take a moment to thank you for visiting my blog, sharing your projects and leaving sweet comments for me throughout 2011. I’m looking forward to sharing creative inspiration and crafty fun with you in 2012!


Again, thank you to everyone who linked up a project on the Inspiration Board this week. Here are a few in the spotlight this week.
...............................................................................................................
Pre-New Year’s

Have you written your thank you cards? Did you have time to make your own thank you cards? Oki Stamp Queen did and they are adorable.

WOW!

I was blown away! 

lil' ol' me?!

Thank you, again, Carolyn!

Take time to look at the other great artists she featured-

and don't miss out on her linky parties-

they are really a fun way to see lots of new ideas!

Today I am doing the Flylady thing

so
fly on over to my other blog

and see what's happening in that realm!

Lots of progress in a short period of time

and cute cat pictures, too-of course!

Speaking of time,

it's not too late

to get in one more good GREAT DEED for 2011.

My great friend, Theresa,

has taken on an awesome cause.

Being the parent of a lovely young lady (Theresa two!)

who happens to have Down's Syndrome,

Mom Theresa has become and advocate and fundraiser for

Reece's Rainbow...

a foundation/organization working to find families

for children in foreign lands who are in orphanages

and have Down's Syndrome.

This organization was featured on a newscast by Diane Sawyer...

which, if all goes well-you can watch right here!

Wanna know how you can help?

Every. Penny. Counts.

Yep, she'll take pennies-how many ya got stashed away in that jar on the dresser?

In the couch cushions?

Got some extra cash that could make a difference-

thinking you need maybe one more tax deduction before 2012?

Just click here...

and you can see the little girl Theresa's sponsoring

whose life you can change---with YOUR CHANGE.

Literally.

Of course...you could always adopt, too....!

For now, back to flying!

Until next time,

CELEBRATE SAFELY

and happy stamping and scrapping!

See you in 2012!

Blessings,

Don't want to confuse anyone...

I said in my earlier post today---

"my new blog"-

I am NOT abandoning this one-

nope.

This stays---

and will be cat and craft oriented.

The other

will the chaos and decluttering oriented.

Just to be clear...!

Until next time,

happy stamping and scrapping!

Blessings,

My New Blog...

Anyone whose read my blog

knows that I am a fan of

FLYLADY

the decluttering, routine-rousing, get it organized guru.

I have followed-I have fluttered

and I have failed.

But I am ready to get up and get going again!

SO LET'S SOAR INTO 2012

together!

Visit MY NEW BLOG

on how to get started.

I promise to share the successes-

as well as the failures...

but we will keep fluttering

together--15 minutes at a time!

Until next time,

happy stamping and scrapping-

and FLYLADY-ING!

Blessings,

 

Thank you notes...

are DONE and IN THE MAIL!!!

Whoo-hoo! GO ME!

I saw an image on Mo's Digital Pencil blog

that I just knew would pair nicely with a

Close to My Heart stamp set

that had a "Thank You" and

a "for your wonderful gift!" sentiment.

Here's what I came up with:

I used the CTMH Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge to cut the background

frames and shapes,

colored, cut out and embellished Mo's image,

pop-dotted it of course,

stamped the sentiment on the inside

a flourish with the "Thank You" on the enve

and they were done!

I did about 15 or 16 of these!

Bad Cat couldn't do a thank you note

but he let me get a few shots for future cat nip toy sales in...

I just need to learn how to photoshop that stupid string out of there

that he was laying on! lol!

He liked his new toy-

I liked my gifts from my goddaughter (Michaels, here I come!)

and Theresa

(cute cat dishtowels, a cat notepad, and a coffee cup

with an adorable black cat looking at a mouse-

she was with me when I got INKY...

the real adorable black cat that lives in my house

and brings me his toy mice when he knows I am feeling bad!)

Gotta love these gals in my life!

Oh-and Margarett, too,

who helped my CAMERA FUND!!!

Can't wait for that new Canon Elph-

just gotta decide which one! ; )

Until next time,

happy stamping and scrapping!

Blessings,

Merry, Merry CHRISTmas...

Hope each of you have a wonderful and blessed day!

Now...I am off to do this...

Until next time, happy stamping and scrapping!

Blessings,

Not a creature was stirring...

 Not a creature was stirring... not even a mouse cat...

Ahhhh.....

sometimes he can be sooo good...other times, well,

not so much-but he is a male-need I say more?! lol!

This angelic looking guy

has snuck out our front door (a MAJOR NO-NO)

twice in as many days...

then the evening before last

when I brought Ms. Dolly (aka the only other female in our household...)

on a field trip

from her room to the love seat...

PC sat on my husband's lap across the room,

looked at her

and stuck his tongue out!

Too funny!

Really-he sometimes starts grooming

and "forgets" to put his tongue back in!

Give him a few minutes and he might remember---or not!

PC is very loving-but he isn't the brightest bulb on the porch!

I've not been sleeping well-so I've been stirring

at all odd early hours of the day

work has been crazy wild wide open

and I will be glad when 1:00 PM today gets here

as I am done!!!

Yesterday I ran from work

to bank to hairdresser

home to swap some Christmas presents--

while hubby was out shopping for more.

I was glad to finally get a few minutes down time...

evidently Inky was, too...

"Momma, why do you look like you're standing on your head?"

This guy---isn't as innocent as he looks, either

because as I was sitting here posting

he was busy behind me trying to get to the Christmas tree!

I heard ornaments rattling and when I turned around-

he's sitting on the cabinet next to the tree

with his claws caught in the tree skirt

that's covering the hula hoop

that's to cover the weirdness of the holder

that's supporting the tree

(it looks like it's suspended!)

so he can't get to it

to EAT IT!

Geesh.

So I freed the cat

moved the presents,

and moved the cabinet.

One more attempt

at cat-proofing the tree!

Maybe I need to reiterate those opening lines again...

T'was the night before Christmas and all through the house

not a CREATURE was stirring---lol.

Maybe we all need just one more rum (or chocolate wine!) drink!

Until next time,

happy stamping and scrapping!

Blessings,

 

Meow-y Christmas....

Yesterday afternoon I delivered my annual

"Thank you for taking care of my misbehaving "children" gift to our vets office.  She has had some staff changes this past year and the young lady on the front desk was new.  She was very nice but it was clear she had not had--and perhaps had not even overheard-any of the Russell Family crazy cat vet visit sagas!  Interestingly enough, the "old" staff doesn't quake and tremble at the mention of Ms. Dolly or even "BAD Cat" (BC got a bum rap with his name as he is really the best of the beasts er, furbabies---but I tease whoever about having lost the coin toss when it's time to deal with either of the other two!   I humbly filled her in: Inky eats the tree---PC broke the blood pressure cuff (the tech had one piece in each hand...) and he ran off with the thermometer cover well---stuck.  Then there was the day that there were 2 techs and one vet with the baby (aka INKY who  eats the tree...total 11 lbs. of furry feline) plastered against the front window of the office in the exam room smashed between them and wondering how they were going to manuever him to where he needed to be so they could work on him! When they proceeded to the corner of the floor-across the room-and the vet had him in a headlock, I just smiled and shook my head as she proudly told me she had taken a cat-wrangling class! Lol!  The things they have been through in order to care for my kitties!

When I saw this stamp-- I KNEW I had to have it!

Even "TT" knew it looked exactly like Inky...!

Of course

when I got ready to make the card

the stamp...was no where to be found.

I've had it for months but could I find it?

Nope.

Thank God for colored images of it on the net!

I just copied, pasted and cased it!

Cut it out and layered it...

And here's the sentiment I came up with

(music lovers out there-be gentle and give me some slack!)

I just attached our photo card to another inside panel (it's a tri-fold--

hand written thank you underneath those pics)

Yes, I know there are  6 cats on that card...

(two of which Dr. Travis has never seen

(Moe & Cocoa, pictured together)

as they are our feral friends...

won't let me touch them no matter what.

Here's a better view...

 Can you tell...which kitty is my girl?
She just looks so very dainty, prim and proper...

but would she look at the camera for Momma....

Nope. Nada. Zippo. Not looking (another "TT"ism!)

I had to go pull out a scrapook page I made

when she first came to live with us

and scan the pic (since I was unable to find that, either!)

and use the scanned photo!

FLYLADY 2012 will be happening around here-BIGTIME!

I cannot wait!

Really.

One. Room. At. A. Time.

Top to bottom.

But-that's another day year, Scarlett!

Yesterday

I managed to trip trying to do a good deed

and the chiropractor and I had a visit.

Still not great---taking it easy--

but thinking the new hairdo tomorrow will help! Lol!

Until then-happy stamping and scrapping!

Blessings,

Slowly moving forward...

Blogger lost my first attempt at this post

and I am beginning to think that the

Grinch and Co. are at work here...

Projects yesterday didn't go so well...

although I got the Christmas card enves addressed & stamped

(no naked mail-my 12 year old goddaughter got the giggles over that one

thinking "no naked male..."!)

Now they are ready to add the Christmas letter (hubby's half of the job!).

Wrapped my presents (he's doing his purchases)

and then tried to sew some more

Santa hat purses.

That didn't go well so I set it aside

and was going to move on to these...

that I found on on Lorie's blog

(the sample above is her work! Beautiful!)

and I was pleased to see that a template

could be purchased at

Clearly I Stamp.

I hopped right over there

and bought two others as well!

Was ready to print and cut when drat-

the template prints out at a size

maybe big enough to hold a small bathroom Dixie cup?!

WHAAAAAA--T?

I have never had problems with templates before-

used the same program-opened the right file--

no luck. Still minuscule.

Several e-mails back and forth-

and I still have no workable template.

Someday I may take the time and figure out the resizing myself

but--

buyer beware. 

Cute stuff-if you have time to fiddle with it

and get it where it should be in the first place.

Disappointment and strike two...

So after dinner, needing a success to end the day,

I worked on this...

a 12x12 framed scrapbook page.

The designer  paper and embellishments are from a line called

Life's Delights and I love them!

Those photo mats are two THICK pop dot layers! ; )

I used Close to My Heart

Chocolate, Sweet Leaf and Colonial White for the photo mats,

Stampin' Up ribbon

and CTMH opaque gems for more embellishments...

I accidentally put a small tear in the paper just beside that top embellishment...

The StampQueen (my mentor) always said---

"There are no mistakes in stamping

only opportunities for embellishment"

so I just added that little flag embellie and no one but me will

ever know the difference!

I got it all put together and noticed some deep scratches on the

bottom front of the frame! GRRR!

Since the store I purchased it at is 1 1/2 hrs. away-

a return/exchange was not happening.

Ok-breathing.

Back to "...there are only opportunities for embellishment..."

I whipped out some more gems

and put them right over that spot.

I think they even give the bike an impression of movement...

Inky's checking it out...

Time to quit for the day.

I had washed a throw earlier

and went to put it back on the sofa

when I saw Bad Cat curled up---

so I tossed it over him...

he snuggled right in and stayed there most of the evening!

At one point he was completely covered up!

I then broke the seal on my bottle of

Raspberry CHOCOVINE---

chocolate-flavored wine.

Now, I admit,

I was skeptical-but it only took one sip at Theresa's the other night

and it was DIVINE!

She had the chocolate flavored

and I wanted to try the raspberry, too.

You get the chocolate and berry flavor then the alcohol taste

but it blends soooo well.

This will solve another gift-giving dilemma!

That's it for now.

I am off to bake Monkey Bread

for hubby's coworkers, the vet's office

and some shut-in friends of ours.

Until next time,

happy stamping and scrapping!

Blessings,

One more attempt at covering the weirdness!

 So--we started with this..

and that just wasn't working for me...

so I went to this...

which ended up looking like this when the cats got done..

so today

enter the lime green hula hoop...

now that brought back a childhood memory!

My grandmother

had a huge picture window in their living room

It was Christmas.

She wanted a large wreath in said window

and moi had just what she needed for the base-

a green hula hoop!

I did get a new one-

but I wanted my old one!

Oh well!

Wonder whatever happened to that...?

Anyway--

for a mere $ 3

this is what I did...

oh so carefully

it went up and over the tree---

until it was around the base.

Then took hubby's fishing line

and tied it in 4 places to the bottom branches

then I carefully worked the sheet that's acting as a tree skirt

around the branches and secured it with a high-tech measure--

paperclips!

Here's what said tree looks like now:

This...I think I can live with!

The little black cat has already been in and out and around it

and is baffled-it looks like he should be able to get up there

but can't!

Go Momma!

Tomorrow-wrapping starts!

Tonight

I am going to try some raspberry chocolate wine

maybe have a hot bath and, if I am lucky,

a neck rub, too!

Until next time,

happy stamping and scrapping!

Blessings,

Another check...!

Since our first Christmas card photo shoot didn't turn out so hot...

today hubby and I had an impromptu photo shoot

thanks to one of the preschool teachers I work with

(thanks, PJ!)

and I designed, uploaded, ordered

and after dinner (I think!)

will pick up the PHOTO Christmas cards!

Not too bad for all in one day!

Also got the vet's card done

(my cats are not the best-behaving patients

and I am always calling with the weird issues...)

and will bake something and deliver that either Friday or early

next week. 

We had fun---here's some glimpses of us...

And there will be CAT PHOTOS on our card of course...

just not these...

Yes, I know the tree looks weird...

the little black cat eats it...

it doesn't digest...

you don't want to know the outcome!

my attempt to cover up the weirdness...not happening, I'm afraid!

some people have presents under their trees...

we have cats...

time to eat.

Tomorrow night is groupies.

Until next time

happy stamping and scrapping!

Blessings,