Perfect Day

My girlfriend came over to take some family pictures for our Christmas cards this year. It was the Perfect "Fall" day here in Tehachapi!! She got a lot of great shots, but I LOVE this picture of us goofing around. I didn't even know she took it until I was downloading them from my camera, what a nice surprise! Now if only I knew how to use that Photoshop program that I have, I could go in and put a happier look on Eric's face, lol. He looks like he is about to crack under the pressure of holding me, he however insists that it is a "I'm the man" look. Oh well, I still adore this picture and the memories from that day.

Thanksgiving layout

 Between my kids and my dad it is impossible to get a decent family picture, they just goof around way too much, lol. I took fourteen pictures and I swear this is the best one! For some reason when I say smile, that means to do rabbit ears or poke someone in the eye! After thirteen pictures and my oven timer going off, I gave in and decided that a funny face would be my last ditch effort to get a picture that I could use! I'm not crazy about the B&W photo, but I just couldn't work with the wild color combo that everyone choose to wear that day! Don't these people know that I scrapbook???

Teacher Gifts and a Recipe

This is what we came up with for teacher gifts this year. The boxes are Memory Keeper boxes from CTMH and they are fairly easy to decorate. The bows are the paper bows that I made a few weeks ago. We made Chewy Pumpkin Snickerdoodles, Peanut Butter Kisses and the most incredible Cinnamon Bread. I could seriously eat a whole loaf of this bread, it's that good!!! The teachers loved their gifts and were impressed with the boxes too. I wish I would have taken a picture of the card Jacob made his teacher, it was a classic! I had this Grinch paper that he wanted to use, so we cut out the Grinch image and then he stamped a naughty or nice list on the card next to the Grinch. He wrote all the fourth grade teachers names on it and made them all naughty- except his teacher!!! What a suck up :)

Anyways, I thought I would share the recipe for the Cinnamon Bread that I got it from my friend Jennifer. Give it a try, it is awesome!!!!

Cinnamon Bread

1 Yellow Cake mix

1 large box instant vanilla pudding

3/4 Cup oil

3/4 plus 1 TBLSP water

1 TSP vanilla extract

1 TSP almond extract

4 eggs

Suagr Mixture
1/2 Cup sugar

4 TSP cinnamon

Combine all ingredients for the bread and beat for 7 minutes on med speed. (don't cheat, it really has to mix that long)

Coat two loaf pans with butter and cinnamon.

Layer cake mix and sugar mixture, you should get three layers. It rises quite a bit while baking.

Bake for 45-50 minutes at 350.

Enjoy!!!!

I'm not all about paper

Okay lousy picture, whatever!! A teacher friend is having a very unexpected fourth baby in a few weeks and I wanted to make her something special for the little guy. This is a crochet hoodie wrap and I am in love with these. They are so soft and cuddly!

I started crocheting many years ago when I was a Police/Fire dispatcher. I needed something to fill those loooonngggg graveyard hours where they frowned on napping during a shift, so I taught myself to crochet. My first project was an afghan that I made Eric for our anniversary. It has since become our Great Danes blankie which Eric was none to happy about, but that's another story.

This is the perfect time of year to just sit on the couch watching a movie while working on a project and I have a few going right now. I get easily bored and distracted, so it's always an accomplishment when I actually finish one! I just finished an Alpaca beanie for Eric, maybe I can get him to look at the camera long enough to get a picture of it.

Bows, Bows, Bows

I don't know about you, but I have a ton of paper! I don't know what it is about it that I can't resist, but it just seems to jump into my basket when I walk by it. So, I have a ton of Christmas paper that I stocked up on last year. I can't even remember what I was going to do with it now, but it just stares at me with that disappointed look every time I open that bin. I found a paper bow tutorial on Splitcoast Stampers and went to town making bows. I ended up making 50 and 48 survived the cats, lol. I adapted the instructions a bit. The original instructions called for 3 brads and numerous pop dots for every bow. I used one brad and just layered the bow pieces onto it. Maybe I will do a video tutorial on it and show you how incredibly easy it is to knock out a whole bunch of these.

A card "FROM" a friend

My good stamping buddy, Cheryl Myers, stopped by to bring me something and lucky me, it fit nicely inside one of her beautiful creations :-) I am always giddy when I receive a card and this was no exception. She even made a point of leaving the inside blank so I can pass on this beauty to some other lucky recipient. Now that's a green stamper who understands the art!!!

The beautifully spooky card below is another one of her creations that I received for Halloween.

Thanks Cheryl, your the best!!

Birthday Card Set

So what do you get an eight year old girly-girl for her Birthday? Well, if you are like me, you usually take the easy route and do cash inside a card. However, I was in the creative mood AND I had a brilliant idea! Hey great ideas are few and far between for me, so I think that deserves a moment of silence.......................................................................................................................................     Why not make a card set and let Miss. Rylee color in the images? I know, genius.... right??? I made two of each cards and added some goodies and bling in a bag with a glue stick. I also provided some colored pencils for her to work her magic. The card holder is an 11" circle with the ends folded in and a 1" band wrapped around it.

Now, if only she likes it as much as I do. Maybe I should throw some cash inside the card just to be safe