Wonder-ful Nativity

I made this card using Authentique's Wonder collection and the Holy Triptych stamp set from Stampin up.

Twinery Twine and MS Punch as well as a spellbinders die.
Have a wonderful day.

Opal #10: No People Challenge

Heather had such a great sketch for Opal #10 at Scrapbook Steals. It was a two pager but I only had these pics of our irises on hand. I also participated in a challenge where we had to scrap pictures without people in them.


I dyed some of my white vinyl Thickers with alcohol inks to match teh pictures...messy and fun.
Hope your day is filled with wonder and beauty.

This Week's Big Sellers

I think most people are looking at electronics right now on ebay. It was an okay week. I listed 50 items and sold only 10...that's low...even for me. Thankfully, some of the items I sold went for larger amounts. Coming in at the top was this J. Crew sweater. It always suprises me what will be my biggest seller. I thought the Banana Republic skirt or the Diane von Furstenburg cropped pants would have gone for more :) All of these items were purchased at the most recent Salvation Army bag sale. So, on average I paid about 20 cents an item.

$19.50
J. Crew Cashmere Blend Wool V-Neck Sweater S

$5.99
Lane Bryant Black Blazer 24

$4.99
Mossimo Graphic Print T-shirt XL

$11.49
Banana Republic 100% Silk Gold Party Skirt 2

$8.99
New York & Company Holiday Red Blouse M
$13.49
Diane von Furstenburg Silk Cream Cropped Pants 4

$6.99
Ralph Lauren Polo Full Length Dress
I hope you are having a great Monday. I've got a lot on my plate for today!!! I still have a few items that are ending today so we'll see what my total ends up being.
So far.
SPENT: $1.40
EARNED: $71.44
EBAY FEES: $6.43
TOTAL PROFIT: $69.61

(There are pay pal fees too but I won't add those in because normally they are covered by the cost of shipping)

All Through the House

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

I love my made over stereo cabinet and that it inspires me to decorate in a new way for the Christmas season.

I purchased this nativity at Bethel for a few dollars...it is beautifully handcarved...couldn't pass it up.

This salt dough nativity is something the kids and I made a few years ago. Travis likes to tease me that my sheep looks more like a dog...so we just call him a sheep/dog. No wise men yet but there gifts are there.

There's that snowflake I purchased at Salvation Army along with a South American clay nativity that I picked up there last year. I love the tones of it and their sweet expressions.

Just a white porcelaine nativity that I purchased at Bethel for I believe fifty cents.

Here's the hurricane all filled up with the lovely ornaments I purchased last week. I just put a bit of fiberfill in the bottom and then started stacking.

That Santa bell was actually Travis' Nana's. She sent it to us for Christmas one year when she was clearing her household. He's very delicate and flaky so he needs extra care.



Our Tree this year...maybe someday I'll live in a house where I can put the tree in front of the window like we always had it growing up.

I have an ornament addiction...I like to shop around after Christmas each year and see what beautiful things I can find for 70-80-90 percent off. We have a tradition in our home where the kids get a new ornament every year so that when they leave home and finally have their own tree they will have ornaments to put on it.

This is my clay pot nativity. Last year I decided that I was going to make wise men to go along with the Holy Family. I finished one...then I must have gotten distracted :). Maybe the other two wise men will find the star this year.
Have a wonderful weekend! Going to listen to the Messiah today and then the ward Christmas party.

Lovely Christmas Card

Isn't this card beautiful?!!? My friend, Erica, made it for me and I just love it to pieces. The paper goes so well with how she colored the image. I hope you're all staying warm.

Have a beautiful weekend.

Thrifty Thursday: Casual

Sorry, with all that's been going on I didn't realize that it was already Thursday.

Here's Tess in her outfit that cost $1.50. DC sweater, Children's Place cords and floral print shirt from WM.

Yeah, check me out too. Jeans $1.00
Gray shirt and sweater I'm sure were a dollar or less. I love a comfy cardi. (Jenn has tried to steal this one more than once-or wheedle it from me).
Have a wonderful day.

Remembering Thor

What a traumatic past couple of days we've had. On Sunday our little minpin/chihuahua mix, Thor, was attacked by a pack of our neighbor's dogs and he later died as a result of his injuries. This happened right in our back yard. I feel so horrible about not being able to save him.

I never really thought of myself as one of "those" pet owners...you know...the ones who treat their pets like people. I have four kiddos that are tops on my list but Thor wriggled his sweet little self into our hearts. We adopted him from the Animal Humane Society over five years ago and he was such an easy dog to be an owner to.

He didn't wander. He never messed in the house. He only got on the furniture when we weren't home to notice :). He slept in his bed on my side of the room. It took him forever to eat through a 20lb bag of dog food. He was so good with the kids and hardly ever barked. I used to say that if anyone wanted to rob us Thor would run out to meet them and tell them, "Take anything you want just as long as you give me some love."

Our neighbors, Andy and Gloria, were like his adoptive parents. They loved to love on him-they even let him up on thier furniture :). Andy is actually the one who ran out to save Thor when he saw him being attacked. The most shocking part is that the perpetrator dogs are still there, with their owners. We have to take them to court to have them removed from the home. I can't believe that tAnimal control would take a chance that this might happen to another animal let alone my children.
I just wanted to pay tribute to our "good boy".
A few things about Thor:
-Every night when we would kneel down in a circle for prayer in our family room Thor would always come up and be a part of our circle
-He refused to eat or drink while on any car trip-even the WHOLE 12 hour trip to Gramy and Grampy's house.
-When he was out he would mosey on over to Andy and Gloria's house and wait on their porch until he saw our minivan round the corner-then he would race us home-he always won because he could cut across our yard :)
-If I was making anything with chicken he would smell it and just sit in the kitchen until I put a few scraps in his bowl
-He was 7 and a half years old (we think, based on the estimate from the humane society when we adopted him)
-My husband named him, Thor, because he wasn't happy that we had adopted such a small dog-he cried too when we had to let him go.
-He had the funniest snaggle tooth on his lower jaw that stuck out over lip on his left side...this frightened more than a few visitors that thought he might be baring his teeth at them.
-Whenever we have a fire going Thor is laying right near it-even if it meant he was panting-silly dog.
-He was such a QUIET dog. In order to get what he wanted he would follow you around EVERYWHERE just looking at you until you figured it out. "You wanna go out-head to the door and open it-no." "Are you thirsty-no you have food and water." "OHHHH-the bedroom door is closed and you want to go lay down!"

I asked my husband to take his bed out of our room because I just couldn't handle it. There are little reminders of him everywhere. WE WILL MISS YOU THOR!

Authentique December Sketch Challenge

What a super sweet sketch we have this month. Head on over to the Authentique Paper Blog to see all of the inspiration and join in the challenge.

My son is OBSESSED with all things train related. When we're in the car and he spots a train off in the distance (which I may not even see) he yells out, "TRACK! TRACK!", until I acknowledge that, yes, there is a track. :)

I painted the red and blue circles with acrylic paint and then outlined them with a white gel pen.
Keepin' it real here. I totally smudged the journaling and couldn't fix it. It fits the boy theme, right?!?!

Ahhhh, Blissful papers will never get old for me.

Cutie Pie!

I used Market Street Stamps grid background stamp with Stampin' Up Tempting Turquoise ink to stamp the title paper.

The red ruler paper is actually from Authentique's Christmas Collection, Wonder.

Designer Felt Tissue Case: Fun Friday Craft

I adore this printed felt and I had a great project in mind for it. Inexpensive and useful.

Begin by cutting a 6"x 7" piece of felt. The width will be 6 inches. Fold the bottom up to the half way point and then fold the top down so that it overlaps 1/4" over the bottom. Place it under your presser foot on your sewing machine and sew a straight stitch with a 1/4" seam allowance.

For flair and funtionality I added a second row of stitching at 1/2" from the edges.

I then pinked the edges of my tissue case

Add your mini tissue pack and you have a super gift for family or friend this Christmas!!

So, my friends, don't be suprised if one of these tissue case finds itself in your happy little hands this holiday season.

Stay crafty my friends.

Thrifty Thursday: Christmas Style

$7.00 for the lot!!!

I received some HORRIBLE news the other day about my local Edgewood Salvation Army. The dear lady who ran the store resigned as did her two co-workers. I don't know what this means for the future of that store. It hasn't been open since...but my life instantly got sadder because of it. I still need my thrifty fix though so I headed out (farther) to another great store called Bethel Storehouse. They have THE BEST prices on books and toys.
All soft back children's books are FIVE cents!! Hard backs are .10 cents. Adult HC are a quarter (with a few exceptions).
Blue ornaments: .50 cents
Gold ornaments: .75 cents
Zooble House with five zoobles: .25 cents (SCORE for Tessa's Christmas present)
Lego helicopter/plane: .25 cents (for Jakob's stocking)
Liz Claiborne Wallet: .75 cents
Decorative Plate: .75 cents (for a friend's gift I'm making)
Birds: .50 cents (makeover coming up)
Spice Stepped Stand: 1.00 (it's underneath everything)
Scrabble: practically brand new (have you seen the cute ornaments you can make with the letters??!?!)
books :) (the Fantastic Four coloring book is brand new and still has stickers it will go in Aaron's stocking)
(Silly Shark Pop Up in beautiful condition for Jonah for Christmas)

Happy for my haul. I may have to go back to visiting Bethel regularly again...but SA will always be near and dear to my heart!

Simple and elegant card

I challenged myself to make a very simple card using only items that were already on my desk...The end result is simple and sweet I think. Back to stamping for me though :)