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,