New Year Coming...Time for some changes...

I hope each of you had a happy and blessed Christmas.

We had a quiet time, just the two of us for the most part

well, us and our cats...

one of which had some health issues

and, long story short,has hyperthyroidism.

We're going to new vet tomorrow morning

to see if he is a candidate for radioactive iodine treatment.

Prayers, please, that he is

and that they can go ahead and start the treatment tomorrow.

The alternative treatments aren't as appealing

and have considerable side effects.

If anyone has had any experience with anything dealing with

feline hyperthyroidism, I would love to hear from you...

 

So prayers, please for Bad Cat (and Momma!)

The good news is--this is the GOOD Russell cat when it comes to vet visits!

Do not try to pill this cat at home!

 

My other news is...

I will no longer be a Close to My Heart consultant after March 31, 2014.

Things are a'changin

and those of us who aren't super saleswomen are no longer welcome.

So, so long, farewell....you know the song!
I am not, by any means, leaving the stamping/scrapbooking world!
There are TONS of companies with beautiful papers and supplies
and I will be sharing my creations right here as I have all along.
I could never ever limit myself to just one product line---
one of my best friends is a Stampin' Up consultant---
I LOVE Graphic 45 papers--and many, many more.
A Cherry on Top gets a lot of my business
and if you are looking for kits that you simply cut and put together
(they come with detailed instructions--and the embellishments and papers
are beautiful and of high quality)
check out The Button Farm Club.
You may gasp at the cost--but once you get your hands on a kit--
you'll be saying "how do they send so much for so little?"
I've only completed one of 5 kits so far---
but I cannot wait to do the others.

For Sale: Stamps and Paper Towers

Every year this time I get in a clean it out-get it organized mood

and today I did a little work in my magic kingdom.

And I started with some CTMH stamp sets.

While these are no longer available through CTMH directly, they are in good shape

(some sets are missing a stamp or two as so indicated on the photo;

some are used, some are brand new!)

Prices do not include shipping.

If you are not familiar with CTMH stamps--

they are clear stamps that come on a carrier sheet.

You remove the stamp from the sheet, attach to an acrylic block

and then stamp.

The advantage to any clear stamp is that, unlike wood mounted rubber stamps

you can SEE where you are stamping!

The stamp sets do not come with blocks-those you purchase separately.

If you are interested, please e-mail me at sentbysharon@aol.com

or message me via Facebook-Sharon Russell-Oak Island, NC.

Enjoy!

Unity---new--$ 10.00

 

Sweet & Lovely - New- $ 10.00

 

Playful Petals -

 

 The Best Things- new-$ 8.00

 

Charmed-used

missing small dotted circle & small flower stamp

$ 6.50

 

Dreams Come True-New

$ 10.00

 ? -- New-$ 10.00

 

Jubilation- New $ 10.00

 Create a File - used - $ 8.00

 

Also for sale... two paper towers

This is what they look like unassembled...

and how they will be shipped....

They are in great condition and come with a dust cover for each one.

While a bit of a hassle to assemble (I cannot lie!)

once they are together they are great...I just outgrew them.

$50 each + shipping.

All of the above from a smoke free home.

Obviously, I do have cats and they have been in my craft room...

 





Blue Christmas....

I feel a little bit a lot

like George Bailey

in It's a Wonderful Life

(before the miracle, that is.)

While I know I DO have a lot

of good things in my life...

some days years

it's harder to see than others.

This is one of them.

A new "do" helped a little.

That, and Jaxon.

Jaxon attends the preschool

at the church I work for.

Jaxon  has seen me, mmm, maybe 5 times

the whole year.

Imagine my surprise

when I walked into my hairdresser's on Tues.

and heard

"MS. SHARON MS. SHARON MS. SHARON MS SHARON...."

over and over

until it finally dawned on me

it was Jaxon!

His mom works there and he was hanging out with her!

He was beside himself to see someone he knew!

And the next day...

as the kids were on their way to chapel

and he saw me in the hall...

I heard,

"I remember you from yesterday!"

Sigh.

If only my husband were so observant!

'Nough said.

 

Since next week is the last week of preschool

before their Christmas break

and coming to Ms. Sharon's office

for a little gift or goodie

happens around any holiday time

(no little people other than these in my life...)

I decided I had better get going.

I got a brainstorm of

making them play dough.

 

So I found a homemade recipe

tweaked it to smell like gingerbread using part of another recipe

GOT LUCKY (miracle is more like it!)

and found enough packages of

MINI CHRISTMAS COOKIE CUTTERS

at Wal-Mart

to make 30+ of these.

 

 I wish I could do a scratch and sniff here---

they smell DELICIOUS

even if it does look like, well, a little ball of pooh!

Oh well.

The grocery didn't have food coloring

and I am not sure with the color the spices gave it

that it would have worked anyway.

It's the thought that counts!

 

Homemade Ho Ho Ho Gingerbread Play Dough

1 C. flour

1/2 C. salt

2 TBSP. Cream of Tarter

1 tsp. oil

1 C. Water

2 tsp. Ground Ginger

1 tsp. Nutmeg

1 tsp. Cinnamon

1 tsp. Cloves

 

Mix dry ingredients together in small pan

add water and oil

mix over medium heat for 4-5 minutes.

It will form a nice ball.

Mind your hands as it will be hot--

let cool to touch, mix and when completely cool

package in airtight container.

These little packages I made is about 1/3 of the recipe.

I am not sure how it does in larger batches-

I made a lot of little ones.

And if you don't add the salt...it does mess it up--

just sayin'.

 

That's it for today.

Until next time,

happy stamping and scrpping.

Blessings,

 



Oh the Weather Outside Was Frightful...

I left home yesterday morning

well before dawn

in a light-weight long sleeve shirt, pants

and flip-flops.

When I came home

it was freezing.

 

And I am blaming that

on the poor, poor turnout

at the craft show we did yesterday.

Thank Godwe were inside.

As the day drew on

it rained and got cold.

And I suppose that's why hardly anyone

was out and about

and sales were so slack...

it wasn't even worth going.

Not to brag,

but, as usual, Theresa and I

had the best booths there.

EVERYONE

had a lousy day sales-wise.

 

So my goal is to get my etsy shop

up and running.

I don't relish the thought

of dealing with our post office

who's shipping rates vary

as much as our weather.

Maybe visit a few local shops

and see what, if anything,

I can sell through them.

 

I guess these will be my Christmas decorations

as I have not brought the first thing down from our attic

not even the nativity!

These photos don't do them justice-

I took them at 10 pm Friday night after a very, very long day

getting ready...this first one is HOPE

and is my favorite!

This one is peace--although hard to see...

 and BELIEVE...

 

These are very pretty in person

and just the perfect little something

to decorate a little space

(office, nursing home room, etc.)

 

Anyway---

the physical of packing, unpacking, packing, unpacking, packing....

and the weather change

has my fibromyalgia raging.

At least I had plenty of sweet smelling bath salts

to soak in last night and tonight and....

 

Until next time,

happy stamping and scrapping.

Blessings,



Blogger Blues

Please pardon my construction mess

but after 3 hours

I am giving up!

At least

the Halloween header and background are gone!

Now I just have duplicates upon duplicates

of buttons and widgets

and

I learned the little black cat widget

will retire in March 2014.

Sad! Sad! Sad!

Anyway-

I am calling it a night!

 

Tomorrow is another day, Scarlett!

 

Until next time,

happy stamping and scrapping!

Blessings,

Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown!

Warning: LOTS of photos follow...!

 

I know-I know-

it's not even THANKSGIVING yet...

and here I am talking about Christmas!

I have good reason.

One of our groupies,

who also happens to be named Sharon

is in charge of decorations

for her golf group's holiday celebration.

Her and her one-other-person committee

chose

A Charlie Brown Christmas.

The other Sharon

decided that the scrawny Christmas tree

with the red decoration

would make great centerpieces.

I said so would Snoopy and the decorated doghouse.

We were off an running!

We hoped to have 4 working on all this-

turns out it was only the two of us...!

This took one long evening

and one Sunday afternoon...

but we are both delighted with the outcome!

First,

we "built" doghouses.

Gift boxes, cardstock-and red wrapping paper

with little brown lines through it.

Then I printed and cut out

Snoopy and Woodstock.

Double-sided, fussy cut!

Thank God for light boxes (that allowed us to line the

two images up pretty darn close)

and Sharpie markers that helped fill in where it wasn't!

TOS (the other Sharon) stamped and put together the infamous

blue ribbon (Close to My Heart stamp set/Cricut cut).

That was the first night!

Then today--

we put the icing on the cake

snow on the roof

and glued on the lights...

bad lighting on the pics-sorry

(shooting with a window with sun shining behind them)

but here they are--

all six centerpieces...

3 have Snoopy and Woodstock on top...

three have Snoopy and Woodstock on the side

complete with maribu on their hats!

(both images were cute and we couldn't decide

so we did both!)

 

Quilt batting makes excellent "snow"!

 

Next up were the trees...

flower pots with floral foam--

covered with tin foil and decorated

and of course

the sad looking tree...

my first idea was

taking cheap greenery

and stripping off the most of the green-

not only did this make a HUGE mess-

it stuck to us and everything else.

Scratch that idea.

Coming home from church today--

I spied a pile of branches on the corner-

we went back this afternoon and collected them--

turns out

they were even covered with lichen!--

and presto! We had trees....

and the red ball ornament...?

Its  actually a red golf ball!

We wrapped and hot glued

red and white ribbon around it

and added a hanger!

 

we then covered the floral foam with more batting

to make it look like snow...

and well, to cover the foam! lol!

 

the "building inspector"...

is pleased!

The look on Sharon's face---made it all worth it!

I am sooo impressed with us!

On top of all this--

we also made 24 candy bar wrappers

as favors!

We worked our little tails off

but they are HAPPY TAILS indeed!

 

 And my cat who eats Christmas trees...

came to survey the scene, too!

Don't even think about it, Inky!

Emergency vet run and enemas

are not on my agenda for the rest of today!

Sheesh.

Hubby picked up take out on his way home from the movie.

Good thing!

dinner, hot bath and rum drink, here I come!

 

Yep, it all looks good.

I LOVE Charlie Brown Christmas.

Believe it or not,

back when I was in high school

and took a child day care class where we actually

took care of 4 year olds,

we did the Charlie Brown Christmas play.

I got to be Linus.

Fond memory---

getting to share the gospel --in a school setting!

Too bad that isn't the case today...

 

Goodnight, Snoopy!

 

Sharon,

a HUGE thank you for letting me help with this!

I really, really enjoyed it!

We do good work, girlfriend! ; )

Until next time,

happy stamping and scrapping!

Blessings,