Counting down...and I HAVE NEWS! GOOD NEWS!

Can you believe it? Only 8 more days until! The preschoolers (3 year old's to be exact) came down the hall of the church to our office yesterday with every noisemaker they had proclaiming they had news-Jesus was born! Since it was their last day before break I guess the teachers opted to celebrate early! The good news is---only one preschooler (again, a 3 year old-boy-but I bet you'd figure that out after reading the next bit...!) decided to eat the birdseed treats I made for them to give the birds! Birdseed, well, fiber?! And it was held together with gelatin so I doubt he'd have any ill effects.

Now for MY news! After much prayer and pondering, asking and seeking, I decided to sign up for a Close to My Heart website. CTMH is running a December promo in that if you spend $ 20 you can get FREE a size-D stamp set-they even pay shipping. But there was a catch-you had to order it through your consultant's website. I didn't have one which meant my customers would miss out. So Not Fair. Along with an upline I never hear from but NOT GOING THERE! If you want to get a great deal and a treat for yourself this Christmas-simply visit my site at okistampqueen.myctmh.com. You can use your credit or debit card and order from there. Yep, you can shop in your jammies at 2 am if you want! Lol. I am learning the ins and outs of setting up the website so there's not any artwork listed...yet. Good excuse to get the craft kingdom cleaned tomorrow!
Hubby just came home and has fixed supper-its a cold evening and soup sounds good to me! Until next time, take some time and please CHECK OUT MY SITE--www.okistampqueen.myctmh.com--and happy stamping and scrapping! Blessings, Sharon

ps/I will also continue blogging so no worries there!

All I Want for Christmas...

I've decided--and my close friends, groupies and the like may be surprised by my answer as its not a new laptop, a camera or even a much-coveted mini cooper. All I want for Christmas is...a fairy godmother! Wink. And ya would think being a certified card-carrying FLOWER FAIRY I would have some pull in that area! You see, my fairy godmother could take over when the craft projects that look so great on the various and assorted blogs I visit go south for me. She could just wave her wand and make it all work. Yesterday was my attempt at www.bettycrockerwannabe.com's (no the link won't work-copy and paste) marshmallow reindeer. Her's looked so nice. Melting the chocolate and dipping the marshmallows wasn't hard. particularly when I discovered to not completely cover the bottom of the marshmallow meant that the sucker stick didn't get covered with (dripping) chocolate as well. The pretzels were far less cooperative. Hard to break to get antler-looking pieces-and she warned of this! Harder still to stick something somewhat fragile into a smooshie marshmallow-and one covered with chocolate---well, tricky at best. It's far easier to stick it in the side rather than the top-but this created a little issue with getting the treat bag over them when it was time to package them. I used red hots for the nose--but found NOTHING to use for eyes! Resorted to a tube of Betty Crocker (so not a fan anymore--not the blog-the company!) that CLAIMED to set up quickly. First DO NOT cut the tip off where they tell you to! First mistake. Second-IT DOES NOT set up quickly-if at all. My reindeer look like something out of a psycho movie! I was extremely disappointed. Some eyes smeared-others are less than perfect shape-so not happy! I doubt--the kids will care. But I don't feel I can charge my customer beyond supplies. My being in pain (my sciatic nerve is not a happy camper) and overtired didn't help. Neither did a very vocal cat. Which brings me back to all I want for Christmas...my fairy godmother...could've finished my unfinished to-do list (that, frankly, I think short of God Himself no one could have accomplished in a 3-day weekend!). She could have the house flylady'd and decorated already, my craft room cleaned (I cannot walk in there right now-not even a path left!), laundry done...all the projects and orders delivered...she could go to work for me today and I could have a MUCH NEEDED break from the Christmas chaos...Sigh.

We did...take time out to go and hear our Christmas musical program at church both Friday and Saturday nights--Theresa and her daughter, Theresa, also joined us! They do an awesome job!

Starting out with some secular Christmas music-complete with a dancing HIPPO this year (All I want for Christmas is a Hippopotamus!) among others, and then moving into the Christmas story portion of the program which is always extremely moving with the solos, narration, video and so on. It never fails to help me focus on what the season is all about. It gets me back on track and in the mood. The tantrum over the reindeer was a little blip. It's down-hill from here. Tomorrow night our groupies celebrate with our Christmas recipe page swaps, dinner and desserts. That's my only other commitment and, while I am looking forward to it and will enjoy it, and am excited about seeing what our gals created on their own, I am looking forward to down time. Yes, there's still shopping to do, presents to wrap---but its all on my time! All over the blogs last night I was seeing those who were "away" because of too much to do-some, sadly, leaving blogging completely for that very reason-others sick and still trying to do it all. Stay tuned for my new take on how to handle the day-to-day stuff-yes, flylady's involved-but I have some New Year Resolutions and goals that I am making, particularly after the life-lessons I've learned this year. For now, I'd better go get ready for work-and deliver the reindeer! Until next time, happy stamping and scrapping. Blessings, Sharon

Send in the ELVES....

Please! HELP! I am in the middle of a mountain of laundry, decorations AND trying to MASS PRODUCE a card order.

Santa has a whole crew---we kill ourselves by trying to do it with one self elf--maybe two if you sweet talk hubby into giving a hand! Whew. Anyway...I had to take time to do these cute little tags--they are going on the bird seed treats I found in Birds and Blooms. I knew they'd be quick and needed an "instant gratification" fix! I wanted to do something for the preschoolers at the church I work for-one class ALWAYS brings me a bag of Christmas cookies they make and decorate-this year I wanted to have something to give them. "Inexpensive" as x 30 was key. Had birdseed-had gelatin and of course, water. Just because the recipe said pack into cookie cutters-plural-and let dry...why did I think that I could pack and pull it off and then let it dry? Learned quickly that that wasn't going to work and not wanting to spend days and weeks on this project-just lined muffin tins with wax paper and packed it in. Peeled off paper and now they are drying for a few days before I package them. I much prefer the one or two heart-shaped ones but, bottom line, will the kids care? I doubt it! I printed the sentiment on white cardstock and a note on the backside that its a cupcake for them to share with the birds. Super simple. The SU bird punch and the red and green papers added just the Christmas-y touch it needed! I think this may be next years Christmas card-simply add "peace" and be done! ; ) Anyway-I will show them all packaged up later this week. The next project is to mass-produce 25 of these--sorry for the poor photo. The stamps and papers are again SU. I wasn't thrilled with the Close to My Heart selection this year but I love the blue, white and cream colors SU had. My customer wants a sentiment added to the right and thankfully Splitcoaststampers has the list of red, blue, green codes for SU and CTMH inks so you can match ink colors with printer colors! Then, tomorrow, I get to try these babies I found on http://www.bettycrockerwannabe.com (you can't click the link and get there for some reason-sorry! Cut and paste into google--it's worth it! And turn your speakers on as she has beautiful music, too!) Are they not ADORABLE?! This was my original idea for the kids-but the preschool director hired me to make them for her to give. I'm a sucker-pun intended-and said ok! Besides, they will get this as a treat for them from her, and birdseed treats to share with the birds from me-a good lesson in getting, giving and sharing--and what Christmas is all about! Anyway--check out her blog for the how-to--and wish me luck! Well, better get on to it! Until next time, happy stamping and scrapping. Blessings, Sharon

Early Christmas Present...

and don't always believe the doctors! I am sooo excited-and thankful-and blessed! I just received a phone call from my NEW physicians office and was told that my lab work-including cholesterol-is NORMAL and that while the ultrasound shows "some gall stones" there is NO inflammation or thickening of the wall! Translation: I DO NOT NEED SURGERY! I am so excited! Diet, acupuncture, exercise and restesting for food allergies will, hopefully, control the issue(s) at hand. Had I believed the hospitalist-and my former (key word! FORMER) MD who was "too busy to listen"-I'd be recovering from surgery over the holidays--and my pocketbook would be far poorer! I am doing my happy dance for sure! The ultrasound tech was stunned yesterday that I had not already had surgery-"It was pretty angry when I saw it before"--and I am sure she's really shaking her head now! While learning to eat low fat and avoid dairy until I am retested is a challenge with an already long litany of what I can't eat-but it sure beats surgery! I am just not at all keen on having parts God put in taken out! And as my chiropractor said yesterday-if something isn't working-we need to wake up and pay attention and make changes to fix it! Yep, I need to lose some weight-I need to exercise-and with a strong family history of heart issues, eating healthier won't hurt, either. I am not at all discounting the POWER OF PRAYER, either! I am taking this GIFT to heart! Off to do some more housework, holiday preparations, and a sample card for an order that needs to be done asap! Until next time, BLESS YOU prayer warriors--and, if in doubt, PLEASE don't hesitate to get second-or third or---opinions! Oh-and happy stamping and scrapping! Blessings, Sharon

Sneak Peak

Poppa Cat can't wait to share what we've been working on (he's modeling the embellishments-don't ask me why---hubby had a hand in that I dare say) I get all kinds of "help" some days! Lol!

Anyway-he wanted to share a sneak peek at the pages we did for our Groupie Christmas Recipe Swap...and yes, I know, Santa's last name is misspelled---the enve has a letter-and recipe for Mrs. Claws--in it to Santa from all the cats who, of course, think CLAWS is the correct and proper spelling and the way it should be spelled even if it isn't! I know-my hubby calls me the crazy cat lady! Actually, he included "old" but I chastised him for that part! I need grandchildren-what can I say!
There's a surprise of course hiding behind the enve as it flips up--you'll have to wait to see that! I was just glad to get them DONE! I helped my goddaughter get hers started-I was geared up to do the pages she told me she wanted-

and she changed her mind overnight! She dreamed I did her pages for her and they were AWESOME. Well-she knew which buttons to push! SO we changed gears-had all kinds of difficulties but I think her's will be cute when she gets done! For now, I'd better get my buns ready for work! Until next time, happy stamping and scrapping! Blessings, Sharon

Check one off the list!

The over-flowing TO DO LIST that is! Whew! 12 gift bags are done and ready to go out the door tomorrow. That's the GOOD news! The bad news is...they are for no one on my list! My goddaughter's mom ordered these for her teachers and a co-worker. They are the first holiday things I have done and about the only festive things about my house at the moment (I realized when we came home from church today that the Thanksgiving wreath is still on my front door!)

I don't suggest trying to mix health issues and holiday orders. You simply cannot do it all! Knowing I am running out of time, I caved like Theresa and ordered photo cards from Shutterfly. They have good deals, do good work and well, a bought card and thought will have to do this year! Back to the bags--I doubt any of her teachers follow my blog but I won't mention what's inside. I made the inside goodies as well but thankfully those were simply taken from my stocked supply! The ribbon in case you are wondering is from Stampin' Up--and I am not sure who the stamped images are by. I often pair this one with the "yes, Virginia, is a Santa Claus" stamp I have as well. It's one of my favorite "go to" sets for Christmas even though they are indeed from different companies and weren't sold together! The round tag is the "to" and "from" tag. I gotta say the SU punch did just fine punching a double layer of cardstock! I do not like the Close to My Heart round stamp. It never punched well and I've failed to send it back. Oh well. A tip for the tags...I stamped a row of them close to the edge of the paper. Then I scored very close to the top edge of them, folded on the score line and then punched them out! Easy-peasy! MUCH EASIER than punching and then trying to line up the stamp with the small circle (I was using a wood-mounted stamp) And a tip for closing the bags---they are full--and were gaping at the top-I simply put some double stick tape to the inside and taped the edges shut, then did the same on the outside edges so it stays closed nicely. Stapled the ribbon on and tied a knot. Again-easy peasy! On to the 25 card order that I've yet to design, marshmallow reindeer suckers, helping my goddaughter with her 5 recipe pages, doing my 5 recipe pages for the swap, cleaning house, getting decorations down...dentist and doctor this week-did I mention my REAL job?!w Whew. Think I want a rum drink and a nap! Until next time, happy stamping and scrapping! Blessings, Sharon