Sunday, December 29, 2013

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...
 



Saturday, December 14, 2013

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,
 





Sunday, December 8, 2013

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,


Monday, November 25, 2013

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,



Sunday, November 24, 2013

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,