Happy Pre-Thanksgiving;)

It's been a long week with the kids here at home. Tomorrow we will be having our Thanksgiving meal over at my inlaws. My mom is working tomorrow:(, but we get to spend Christmas with her:)

Monday I got all my house cleaning done and I also did a bit of rearranging and purging. Since I got rid of that big Dora doll house of V's and all the furniture for it, it freed up quite a bit of space in one of the toy trunks. I was able to move lots of stuff that was in one of her toy bins to the trunk and the rest was condensed onto the bigger toy bin unit. That freed up a bit of wall space in the room:)

So I went to Walmart and got a smaller TV cart and moved her TV, game systems, DVD player, etc. to the back where she MIGHT use them more and moved the bin unit into my scrap room where her entertainment center used to be.

I also got another of the smaller craft tables. I was hoping to use one of the larger banquet tables we already have, but that was just too large, so I got a smaller one like the one I already have in my room. That went where the entertainment center was and the bin unit went underneath.

I finally moved all my punches to the front (they were still in the back hanging on the closet door in one of those pocket pouchie thingies:) and put them in the bins. Worked out great;)

This is also the table where my new little sewing machine that Steve is giving me for Christmas is going to go;)I got this from my 2 Peas holiday pal on Monday. TOO cute. LOVE the cute little sign and the gingerbread man on the card. I LOVE gingerbread men:) V was very excited about all those peppermints. She LOVES peppermints. I can't wait to try this recipe:) Thank you, Marla:)

A little shopping on Sunday. Sizzix was 1/2 off at M's. I used my coupon for the snowflakes and the bling was only $1.

Yesterday I went to my mom's cause Lal said I could have her tree cause they were using my mom's smaller one this year. I really did not want to fuss with putting up our ginormous tree this year. It's SO big for our small living room and it's always SO crowded in here while it's up. So I wanted something smaller...well, just not so wide.

Anyway, went over there and we hung out, went by J's and T's at Crossroads and I picked up a few things. I got some clear lights at T's cause I wanted to do all clear this year with my gingerbread ornaments...kind of like icing;) Then at J's I got some felt snowflakes, some bead trim and a Sizzlits Christmas die. It has a penguin, an angel and a reindeer. I made the penguin and the angel yesterday and they are too cute:)

So anyway, back to my mom's and we looked for the tree and we couldn't find it:( So I ended up going to Walmart and picking up a temp for now. After Christmas I hope to get one I like at a good deal and that's what we'll use from now on:)

So I got home and we got the tree up in about 1 hour:) Yay!!! It was so much more fun and didn't feel like such a chore spending the whole day getting the huge tree up. Once again "yay"!!!

Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving tomorrow surrounded by family and friends:)

Here in My Gloomy Place...

Oh, dear...Oh, bother...today was such a gloomy and dreary day. I couldn't motivate myself to do anything:(

I did get up and run to the grocery store early this am cause I couldn't get Steve to move fast enough. So I ran for some things I needed for breakfast then came home to make it. This is where my day started to go downhill. As I was trying to cut the plastic on the mexican sausage, the knife slipped and it sliced through my finger...OUCH!!! The sadder thing is...I've done this before:( This time was not as bad as the last time, but it was throbbing for quite a bit and I've had to change my bandaid quite a few times cause it keeps slipping off from getting wet from all the hand washing:(

So anyway, the rest of the day just kind of drug on and I just couldn't get myself to do anything productive...or maybe I should say "fun"...cause I got my house stuff done and I washed out some bins in the fridge I'd been meaning to do. Washed a load of delicates then hung them to dry in our wash room. Took pics of some things and listed them on Craigslist.

So earlier I had a bit of a headache coming on too so I took some Ibuprofen to nip it in the bud and then I laid down for a while and took a little nap. Later in the afternoon, after I got up, I decided to work on some Christmas cards.

I am always saying I am going to make my cards and have them ready to mail out then I just keep procrastinating and never get them done and we end up not sending any out at all. So I thought I'd start today.

I don't consider myself a very good card maker in the least, but I had these MME Festive/Frost card kits I bought on clearance at 911 last year. I LOVE these lines...(remember I found the big pad at M's recently;) So I brought out my kits and started to work on them.

I did the first 3 and was pretty happy with how they turned out...

I added some things that didn't come in the kits like the green scalloped square behind the cardstock quote, the Sizzix cut snowflake and the twine. I used adhesive mounts on the quote and snowflake to give them more dimension:)

Oh, I need to add a quick note here. My knee had been killing me the last couple of days (I credit it to the Eliptical), so I took a couple days off to see if it would feel any better which by today it significantly was. So as I'm going to scoot in my chair at my desk, I knocked my knee on a shelf I have under there. I mean, I really slammed into it. Duh!!! I hope my knee doesn't start hurting AGAIN:(

So we ate dinner and chilled for a while, then I went back and worked on 3 more:) These went a lot quick and were easier. I really enjoyed working on them.

To these I added the dimensional snowflake sticker, again a scalloped square and some lace trim on the bottom. I used the plain silver staples to attach it:)

Here's V reading her school journal. I thought it was so funny. She wanted to wear the Indian hat. They made them at school on Friday. I love the part when she says..."Uh...I don't know what I wrote there"..."or when she says..."I'm just going to make something up"...Too funny:)

Ugh...I can NOT get this video thing to work:( I'll try again later:)

A Holiday Package...

Forgot to post that I got another package from my holiday pea pal this week. It all came in a really cute Santa hat; very creative wrap:) I got some Pressed Petals metal titles and 3 packs of some Christmas stickers:) I didn't take a pic:( I'm so lazy...boo hoo...Maybe I'll go back and put the goodies all back together and take a pic;) So...Thanks to my pal, Marla.

This week's package was a recipe theme. My package reached my pal already and I am so glad she liked it. I should be taking pics of what I am sending too...duh...Anyway...:)

I'm So Happy It's Friday...

For some reason this has seemed like a long week and I am really looking forward to the weekend and the holiday break. That means no early mornings for a bit. With this cooler weather that is very welcome. It's harder to get out of a warm bed when it's cold:(

What oh what has been going on???...I'll backtrack;)

Yesterday Mattie had his student led conference. Steve took him when he got home from work. He made Honor Roll again:) This time he made A/B. He got 2 Bs and they were both 88s, so that's pretty darn good:)

Yesterday I made a quick trip to HL and J's at Crossroads. Just picked up a couple of things I was needing for some little projects. Then I stopped in at Target to check if they'd marked their clearance down anymore...nope, but I did get Mattie 3 pairs of pj pants cause he needed some for the cooler weather.

Visited with my neighbor which I do almost everyday;) Then just hung out. Last night we made popcorn and the kids and Steve watched Journey to the Center of the Earth in 3D even though we've already seen it at the theatre. We hadn't watched it since we bought it.

Wednesday I made a quick trip to the PO to drop a package off for my holiday pea pal, then crossed over to Tuesday morning. I found some pretty good deals:) One of which was this awesome K&Co. Mira paper kit. All for $1.99. I was in shock. Too bad it was the only one there. Besides containing like 20 sheets of the glittered/embossed papers, it also had two of the diecut sheets. I'm sad to say that I paid $1.99 for just one of those sheets at 911 a while back.

That night was Papa John's school night so we ordered in. You know, where the school gets money when you order on certain days:) So no cooking. Yay for me;)

Tuesday me and my neighbor, Ruby went by HL and I picked up the Deep House blade for my Cricut!!! So exciting. I'd been wanting it for quite a while. I was so psyched when I saw it there on Monday and I came home and told Steve about it so he said I could go back and get it...hee hee:)

When he got home we put in the new blade, but I was quite disappointed cause I couldn't get it to cut through the chipboard. Too sad. I was really bummed thinking that it was a total rip off. I posted on sb.com and got a lot of negative feedback from people who were having trouble with it too:(

I left it alone and went back the next day to try again. I checked the thread on sb.com and someone posted some suggestions on there and I tried them and it worked!!! This is what I managed to cut using my newest cart, Graphically Speaking:

I cut this at a 4 depth so I think the 5 will do a much cleaner cut. I'm a hapy camper:)A pic of V in her new Nick and Nora owl pjs. Can you tell that she loves them??? They are too stinkin' cute. I just LOVE the colors and of course the owls. Who doesn't love owls???!!! I already have a LO in mind;)And here she is again sporting one of her new Yes outfits I snatched up that day with all the clearance clothes. Did I say how much I love those cute little Yes outfits. Why can't they make them in my size:(...;)

Managed to finish up a LO I had sitting on my desk for a while...

The pic is from my birthday this past October. I used my Graphically Speaking cart here again. I am forseeing a lot of usuage of this cart;) Background paper is Scenic Route as is the strip of polka dot pp, Jenni Bowlin lined pp, Wild Saffron tag, 7 Gypsies A La Card stickers, MM tiny alphas. TFL:)

It's SO Windy...

Tonight was Family Movie Night at V's school. They were showing Kung Fu Panda and serving hot dogs, chips, popcorn, drinks and cupcakes. It didn't start until 7 so I figured if we got there by 6:30 I'd be good, since everything was on a first come, first served basis. Boy was I wrong!!!

As we got closer to the movie area I saw a line of about 100 people...I am NOT kidding. In line for food and snacks. The kids had already had dinner, but I thought that at least they could get some snacks for during the movie, so we got in line.

I thought I'd get Steve a hot dog since he'd be coming straight from work and I knew he hadn't eaten, but wouldn't you know it. Literally as we got up to the front of the line, they announced they were out of hot dogs:( The kids managed to snag a drink, some chips, popcorn and a cupcake.

One of V's friends came a little later after everything was gone, so I let her have my drink, chips and popcorn and we let her sit next to V in the extra chair that was for Steve:) I ended up just sending him straight home since the movie was almost over by the time he got near the house and we left a little early cause it kept getting windier and colder.

It was a pretty nice time though. Better weather would have been good, but we can't control that;)

Today was a very nice day. I called up my neighbor, Ruby, and asked her if she wanted to go to breakfast. We went and had tacos at Bill's. Then she went with me to Mattie's ped to pick up his Rx. We went to Walmart to drop it off and killed some time there. She picked up a few groceries she needed. I got Steve the Hellboy 2 movie, a pair of pjs for V that were on clearance for $5 and this really cute sweater dress for me;)

Afterwards we went to the Big Lots across the street and then the Dollar Tree and lo and behold what I found there:

These are EXACTLY like the AC one; the Thickers and the other little embellies. I can't think of the exact names;) All for $1!!! I'm thinking I might go back and get more;) They had other stuff I didn't get. Like foam Thickers, foam shapes, some different chipboards (some with arrows and some birthday ones:) Those were the only two style of the felt embellies though and the only two colors in any of the Thickers.

Here's my one LO I got done on Wednesday when Lal was here...

Creative Imaginations decorative edge pp, Jenni Bowlin polka dot pp and bingo card, glitter chipboard letters, MM 5th Avenue diecut and tiny alphas, scalloped circle punch, Prima flowers and Center Kisses, lace, AC Remarks and cardstock sticker.

Wednesday when Lal came over we all went to Target (Ruby was with us:) and they had LOTS of clearance sale on clothes. In addition to the things being 30, 50 or 75% off, they were an extra 30% off the last marked price.

As we were walking around this woman came up to me and offered me a $5 off a $50 or more purchase of apparel. Boy was I happy:) So I got her quite a bit of things for only $52!!! 3 or 4 pieces were from the Yes line that I LOVE:)

K...I am super tired so I am hitting the sack. Have a good one:)

I Have An Illness:(...

I seriously can not stop buying scrap goodies:( It's never ending:( I went to J's and M's this past Saturday and picked up all this...

A very cool K&Co. Christmas paper pad that matches the Swell Noel. My 2Peas Pal from our Holiday Pea Swap sent me a $20 GC for a bday gift. SO sweet since that wasn't even part of the swap. So anyway, I got the Swell Noel paper pad and diecuts with the GC and this paper will go great with that; to mix and match.

Also got the MME Festive/Frost paper pad. I got some of this last year at 911 and LOVED it. Really loved the LOs I did with it and now I have more. I am a big fan of MME:) Oh...and both pads were 30% off. Kind of wish I'd waited since this week had a 50% off coupon and paper is not on sale, but I just couldn't help myself...so...oh, well:)

I did get the two BG chipboards with a 50% off coupon though as well as the two Martha Stewart felt appliques in the pic below:)

Two packs of some glitter chipboard alphas from the Target Dollar Spot and the two sets of the MS felt appliques. I want to use those to make some LOs for my neighbor who is having a baby girl at the end of this month. Maybe make something I can frame so she can put on the wall in the baby's room.Finally found some of the Studio G glitter glues at J's. I only got the 5. There were a few other colors I didn't get one being a gold, but I have that in Stickles so I didn't think I needed another. Also a silver and purple that I have in Stickles too. Also one of the Studio G stamps. They had tons, but this is the only one I thought I'd use.

Got this at HL Monday. The carts were 30% off, so this came out to like $52 with tax. Great deal I think cause I'd end up paying a little more when the carts are on sale for 2/$100. I have been wanting this cart since it came out. I got the Storybook one and I LOVE it. It's got to be my fave cart to date. This one looks like it's going to be my second fave. I was looking at the manual yesterday and it's got tons of cutting options!!!Goodies from my Holiday Pea Pal. This is my second envie of the swap. The first thing we had to do was send our pal a card or ecard; I got an ecard. A Hoops and Yoyo one. I LOVE those guys. Wonder how she knew...??? :)

The first envie I got had some Christmas stickers and some adhesive gems...maybe one more thing. I can't recall:(

Now the other day, I got this. A tin of some most delicious peanut brittle:P Some very pretty Blue Awning tags...all in this very cute felt bag.

A most wonderful birthday gift from my friend Daphne for our birthday swap on Sneaky. OMG!!! LOVE it all!!! Yay, yay!!! Thanks SO much, Daph!!! :)

Lal and I are getting together to scrap tomorrow. Let's see what I can get done. I'll update what I get done:)

What's With the Circles???...

This is what Lal asked me yesterday when I showed her my two new LOs:) And the answer is...I don't know;) It's just the LOs that inspired me:) And here they are:

This is a lift off of one of my favorite sb artists; Allison Shubert. I absolutely LOVE her work. Of course mine never do hers justice, but I try:) I used Kraft paper, a cake coilie, Paper Studio pp that I distressed with my HS distresser, Jenni Bowlin mini bingo card, Paper Studio doilie lace, Imaginisce blooms, fabric brad and I cut the flourish with my Sizzix die out of some velvet paper:)I used one of my recent Halloween pics for this one. The diecut paper was made using one of the big Accucut dies at 911. I got quite a few sheets cut with this design in different colors:) Patterned papers are Pink Paislee Vintage Moon, more Sizzix cut flourishes this time using felt:) MME diecut, Prima lace and flower (the smaller one), Jenni Bowlin journaling sticker, Bazzill paper flower (the larger one) and buttons.

The kids had early release today so they are home already. Tomorrow is a chill day for me. V is spending it with my MIL at my BILs house so I MIGHT do some running around or just take it easy at home. Have a great weekend:)

It's November Already...

Boy is time just zipping by. It'll be Christmas before you know it:)

Let me see...what's been going on???...not much;) Halloween came and went. We had a good night. I went and picked up Lal and the kids and they came and spent the holiday with us. The kids had a blast and they all looked so cute in their costumes especially Mikey.

Mattie was a skeleton guy, V was Dorothy, Lij was Michael Jackson (LOL) and Mikey decided he wanted to be Cat in the Hat. This costume belonged to Mattie. He wore it the year he was like 6 and I've kept it ever since cause I just LOVE it so...and so did Mikey. He was just fascinated by the tail and he kept "chasing" after it and acting silly. It was TOO funny:)A corner of our Halloween decorations. It was SO hard to get some good pics outside that night. My camera was being all wonky and freezing on me:( This is our "grave yard" area:)Yummy Halloween cupcakes I made for the kids...well...we ate some too;)

Picture of Baby Girl the other morning before school. Another one of the Yes pieces from T's that I LOVE so much. I wish they'd make this clothes in my size;)LO I've been working on. Creative Imaginations diecut paper, last years MM Halloween line and diecut bat, some Spellbound diecuts, a felt flourish I cut out using a Sizzix die and some sticky back felt. I used my new MS star border punch to make that little strip at the bottom of the pic:) Oh, and the stickers for my title are old Daisy D's. TFL:)