Merry Christmas!

My wish for you is that you all have a peaceful and joyous Christmas with your family and friends.

Winter Solstice

As promised, here is a photo of our tree. It is so hard to get a photo that shows exactly what our tree looks like (Heather, maybe you can give me some tips on this) but I did my best. We found the tree with the most holes and cut it ourselves, used the larger lights and decorated it with all of our family ornaments. In years past I have had 2 trees, one with the family ornaments and one with the Christopher Radko ornaments I collect. Both of them had tinsel I bought at garage/estate sales. You know, the old lead tinsel. There is nothing like it on a Christmas tree. Reminds me of the trees we had as kids. These days I put up one tree and use over 200 glass icicles. They are so much easier to put on and take off.

The Winter Solstice is here and we are all cheering the knowledge that the days will get longer starting today instead of getting shorter. It gets very cold and dreary here so the hope of more sunlight is a welcome relief.

Updated Class List

Hope everyone is getting all their holiday chores finished. It is coming fast!

Just wanted to let you all know that I updated my class list for January. They are listed in the left hand corner along with the store phone numbers so you can call and reserve a spot. Join me for a fun Valentine class at The Stamp Shoppe in Schofield, WI or Endless Creations in Green Bay, WI. There will be 5 fun Valentine cards and fun for all.

Good Kitty

Such a good kitty, don't you think? Scruffy just sits in his chair and looks at our tree. I am always amazed that he doesn't get into things, especially this year. You see, I have over two hundred glass icicles on the tree that hang down and tempt him. I finished decorating the tree yesterday and am finally working my "to do" list down to a bearable size. Soon I will take a photo of the whole tree to share with you and am hoping that all of you will do the same. Take a moment to photograph your tree and post it on your blog. I love looking at everyone's tree and it would be fun to see your trees too.

Success!

This is the fun group of ladies I had at my calendar class last night at Endless Creations in Green Bay. "Hi Ladies!" They braved a big snowstorm just to come out and make calendars and am I ever glad they did! We had a great time stamping, coloring and chatting. Their names from left to right are, back row, Trish, Paula, me, Kathy. Front row, Mary Ellen, Mary Jo and Mary Kay. They are all super stampers and we had no problems getting all 12 months finished in 2 hours. Also wanted to thank them for coming early so we could beat the worst of the storm and a special thank you to Sonya for dropping in and chatting with us. She also helped me out by demoing the Stamp-a-ma-jig. Great job Sonya!!! Thank you all so much for making my first class at Endless Creations such a success. I look forward to seeing you at my Valentine class next month. Ooops! I almost forgot, if anyone would like the kit, I sent them to Endless today, they should have them tomorrow. Please call the store if you would like them to hold one for you. Thanks!

VMAA challenge night

I know this card needs some 'splaining, Lucy! Last night was the 3rd edition of the VMAA. For anyone who doesn't know, it is the Virtual Meeting of the A Muse Addicts. It is a fun night of stamping for everyone who participates which consists of 4 challenges and 1 bonus challenge. Anyway, the fourth challenge was to make a card that shows a memory of your Christmas' as a child. In our family, on Christmas Eve, before the kids got up, my Dad would set a "trap" for us. He would use lots of empty boxes and string in our staircase to build a trap. When we tried to sneak down to see what Santa brought, we would set off a lot of noise as the boxes tumbled down the stairs. It was always great fun for us kids to see if we could make it through the trap without making noise. I don't think we ever did make it to the tree without waking our parents, or did we???

Loot!

Look at all this loot! The Fiskars sale was so much fun. My friend Renate and I got there right after the doors opened and boy, did we get some great stuff. I got all the scissors and punches that I could carry. There is just a sample of my goodies in the photo. They had a huge warehouse that was full of all the paper, punches, scissors, embellishments you could carry at killer prices. Couldn't resist some of the more fun things like that punch set in the background. Got that whole set for $5. Yup, $5!!! I will probably have to wait till after the holidays to sort through it all and figure out where to put it. So sorry all my online friends couldn't have joined us in our search for "the good stuff".

Calendar Class

Had my calendar class today at the Stamp Shoppe and guess who showed up? Linda! Yay! It was a lot of fun to stamp with her, she even helped me out with one of my designs. Now that is a good friend. My next calendar class is at Endless Creations in Green Bay on Monday night. Join me if you can.

Was going to post yesterday and wish my brother, Dan, a happy birthday but somehow the day got away from me so "Happy Belated Birthday" to the BEST brother ever!

My friend Renate and I are heading out to the big Fiskars warehouse sale tomorrow. Should be a bunch of great bargains waiting for us there. They had sale day #1 a couple weeks ago and I got more scissors than you can shake a stick at for a dollar each!!! They had all kinds of fun stuff for $1, $2 and up. Even had edge scissors for a quarter. Yeah! Love that sale. Will try and get a photo and post it tomorrow with all the goodies I manage find.

My friend Rhonda nominated me for my first award! Wasn't that sweet? I am so honored to receive it and am happy to pass it along to some of my favorite blogs. Here are the rules:

~The winner may put the logo on their blog

~Put a link to the person who sent you the award

~Nominate 5 blogs

~Put links to their blogs

~Leave a message for your nominees

The blogs I want to nominate are:

1. Lyndsay
2. Geeta
3. Tracy
4. Heidi
5. Jane

Congratulations to all these gals. Visit their blogs for some creative and inspiring ideas. Thanks again to Rhonda for nominating me!!!

Gift tags

Anyone who knows me, knows I love making gift tags! It is always a lot of fun to make these little gems. My friend Renate came over Sunday through Tuesday and we had one of our yearly marathon gift tag sessions. We came up with all the designs of these gift tags and then proceeded to make at least 40 of each one. We had a blast! My DH cooks dinner for us each night so we just sit in my craft area and create. Isn't he a peach? I have to admit that we did have to make a run to the craft store to find some ribbon this year but it was worth it. We found the perfect ribbon for the stocking tag which, of course, you can't see because I cut the top of the photo off.

Thankful

Hope everyone reading my blog has a wonderful Thanksgiving. I have so much to be thankful for and you all are a part of it.

My husband and I will have most of my family over for the big feed this year, except our beautiful daughter. We will miss her but she will be in our thoughts and will be home for Christmas for the first time in 5 years. Can't wait!!! We will have a houseful of laughter and fun and hopefully, the stuffing won't explode in the microwave. Happy Thanksgiving to you all.

Rhonda's birthday!

Happy Birthday to my friend Rhonda! Hope you have laugh filled day!

Look what I saw this morning!!!

All I can say about this is, "WOW"!

First Class

Well, I had my first A Muse class! Claire and Chris were there and as you can see, we had a really fun time. They were so understanding of all my faux pas and didn't make fun of me once. Thank you so much for coming gals and hope to see you again soon. Next time I promise that I won't wreck one of your cards Claire!!!

Last chance!

Last chance to sign up for my class tomorrow! We are going to make this card and have a lot of fun. The Stamp Shoppe in Schofield/Wausau, WI is the place to be from 10:30 - 12:30. We will make 5 fun cards and drive Heidi and Jo Ann crazy with all the chatter.

Packers Win!

Hooray! The Packers beat the dreaded Bears! It has been a loooong time since we have beaten them at Lambeau Field. Life is good...

Hey, don't forget to sign up for one of my calendar classes. I have 3 of them scheduled. Two at The Stamp Shoppe in Schofield/Wausau WI and one at Endless Creations in Green Bay, WI. Check my class list on the left for the dates and times. You won't regret it!

Good to be back!

Where does the time go? Seems like I just got back from Seattle and here it is the 14th already. I did manage to get caught up at work and get my calendar class put together. I guess that is a lot!!! Anyway, here is a sneak peek at what is in store for you if you come to my class. I have 3 scheduled, two at the Stamp Shoppe in Schofield/Wausau, WI and one at Endless Creations in Green Bay, WI. Check my class schedule in the left hand border for times.

Copic Class

Can you stand one more photo of our great weekend? This photo was taken at Marianne's Copic marker class. I learned so much from this class and can't wait to share the information with my new students. Everyone there was having fun coloring and learning about the airbrush system. The whole weekend was a memory to cherish forever spent with people who are creative and friendly. Can't wait to continue this great adventure...

Whew!

The "fab four"!!! Kamila, Liz, Michelle M, and me in our new tee's!



Are you still with me? We are having a great time here in Seattle at the A Muse Instructor training weekend. They are keeping us really busy with seminars and of course, A Muse shopping. How can you be surrounded by everything A Muse and not buy something? Anyway, here is a photo of Tisha, Jen D, Katie, Tracy and Lyndsay. The whole A Muse Creative Team is just as nice as you think they are!!!

Cupcake Social

Wow! Lookie, lookie! The cupcake social was tonight at the new A Muse store. There were lots of customers to greet, make and takes to make and, of course, cupcakes to eat. Had a great time talking to everyone and looking around the new A Muse digs. The new store was absolutely beautiful. Congratulations and thank you to everyone at A Muse for a really fun evening!

My Class List

Announcing my first class list! Come if you can!


The Stamp Shoppe - Wausau, WI

11/21 - Winter fun - 5 fun winter cards 10:30 - 12:30
12/2 - Calendar - Make a desktop calendar for you or for a friend 5:30 - 8:00
12/4 - Calendar - Make a desktop calendar for you or for a friend 10:30 - 1:00


Endless Creations - Green Bay, WI

12/1 - Winter fun - 5 fun winter cards 6:00 - 8:00
12/8 - Calendar - 6:00 - 8:00

Simple project

Look at what I made for a teacher gift! It is a little post-it notepad. This was a really simple and fast thing to make for the teachers of my friend's children. They were bugging me for a homemade thing to give out for the holidays and I answered the call. Used a Zutter for the first time and am just loving it. So easy, even I only needed someone to show me once. Yes!

After I get back from my training weekend I am going to start posting recipes. Just don't have the time this week. Have a great weekend all, "see" you when I get back!

Goin' Crazy

It has been a crazy last few days at my house. Trying to get everything finished on my list as the list itself grows and grows is so exciting and draining. One of the things on the list was to make a few card samples for my LSS using the retro rectangle. Looked for help from my A Muse Creative Team members and they came through big time. A big "thank you" to them! So this is one of the cards I ended up with. Now I am off to get back at the list because I just got a phone call about something else I need to do. Yikes!

New A Muse store is open!

The new A muse store is finally open! Check all the great photos on the A Muse news blog. It looks just beautiful. My DH took this photo of me outside the new store when we visited Seattle in September. It looks oh so different now. Nice job to Linda and her husband and crew. Can't wait to get over there next weekend and see it for myself! While I was in Seattle I was lucky enough to meet Rhonda. We talked and talked like we had known each other for years. She is so sweet and I can't wait to see her again. It was a great visit! Happy weekend everyone.

Happy Halloween!

Hope everyone is having a great Halloween! We don't get any trick or treaters out here in the country so I am going into town to my friend Elizabeth's house and celebrate there. She will let me give out the candy and greet trick or treaters to my hearts content. Yesssss! Then we will have dinner and conversation. In other words, a perfect day! Hope you all are having weather like we are having and that you are enjoying your day.

Keeping up

In an effort to keep up today, I got the first thing on my list finished at 9:44 pm. How does that happen? Such a busy day doing this and that, thinking I will get around to making the card for my cousins upcoming baby shower next. Guess there was a lot of one more things before I do something fun. So, as you can see I got it done.

Yesterday I went to a movie with my friend and movie buddy Gail. We both love movies and go at least once a week, since July of 2001! Yup! Seven years of movies. It has been and will continue to be great fun. Gail is one of those people who brightens your day EVERY time you see her. Thanks for looking in today...

Ordering

Today I placed my first order to A Muse Artstamps. Now, THAT is fun! Will continue to be fun until I receive my CC bill. Ha! Most of what I ordered, I needed for my first class. Now I can't wait to get my package and open it. Will be just like my birthday.

The card I have today is a little dark. The sentiment on the bottom is barely visible. Gotta figure out the best way to take photos of my cards when the card stock is dark. Anyway, I love that Doodlebug sugar coated card stock. Works perfect for a Winter snow card. Used one of the MS edge punches for the stars/snowflakes. LOVE IT!

This is it!

I am sure that the first post is the hardest. I have been thinking about it for a while now and I am sure after this post, the rest will be gravy. You may be wondering just what will I be chatting about here. Everything! My wonderful family and friends, my new adventure with A Muse Artstamps and my kitty all qualify. If you are wondering what my new adventure with A Muse is, I have been selected as a new member of their Instructor Team. How exciting is that? I am totally psyched and ready for a new challenge.

Now how about one of the cards I made for my first class that will be held at The Stamp Shoppe in Schofield, WI on Friday, November 21st from 10:30 - 12:30. Enjoy the card and let the journey begin!